Elder Index

Pioneering new approaches to economic security for older adults in California.

The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the Insight Center for Community Economic Development have partnered to refine and disseminate The Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index or "Elder Index" in California, which permits policymakers and planners to understand how much income is needed to meet basic needs and to set guidelines based on locality-specific measures of the cost of living.

About the California Elder Index (EI)

The California Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index (Elder Index) was developed to provide an evidence-based indicator of the actual basic costs faced by older adults (ages 65 and over). The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research calculates those costs and examines their implications for California.

Cost of Basic Living Expenses

Learn about the California Elder Index’s measure of basic cost of living for older adults in California in housing, health care, food, transportation, and other miscellaneous expenses such as personal care, telephone, and household maintenance.

Number of Elders Impacted

Thousands of seniors are struggling with severe economic insecurity, having "too much" income to qualify for public assistance yet not enough income to make ends meet on their own. Learn about how the California Elder Index helped identify California’s “hidden poor.”

Elder Index Dashboard

An interactive tool to examine the cost of living by year, county, family type, and housing in addition to the number of elders impacted by age, gender, race, ethnicity, and immigration and citizenship status. The Elder Index dashboard is currently being updated. Contact Imelda Padilla-Frausto for details.