Health & Expenses
We asked participants a number of questions about their responsibilities outside of their work in comics. This section of the findings outlines respondents' obligations around their housing situation, healthcare, and personal expenses.
Housing Situation
The majority of respondents do not own their home. Among those who do, the majority report that they are making payments on a mortgage.
The average participant lives in a space that has 2.3 bedrooms, with the most common response being that they have a two (or three) bedroom unit where one bedroom had been converted into an office for their work.
Additionally, participants reported having a range of dependents that they care for; while the average participant had 3.8 dependents, the most common responses were "0" and "2" dependents, respectively. The highest number of dependents reported for a single respondent was "11".
Health
While the distribution of respondents' health is somewhat normalized, it was more common for respondents to report their health landing on the negative side of the scale.
Less than a third of respondents reported their health being better than "good" (which served as the neutral response on this scale).
Health Problems
Over half of the participants reported having experienced health problems related to their work in comics.
This question asked whether they experienced any problem, so results cannot speak to the specific types of problems or health issues that were encountered by respondents.
Healthcare
Roughly 18% of respondents stated that they had health insurance through their employers, but it is unclear whether this is because they work for a publisher that offered insurance or because they had insurance from a job outside of the comics industry (e.g. their day job).
Roughly 15% of participants reported having no health insurance (with many opting to not treat illnesses as they pop up).
Many respondents who selected "other" reported having health insurance coverage through public assistance programs (e.g. Medicaid, the ACA, or comparable programs).
Other Expenses
We also asked participants about their other expenses, including those which are not anticipated in their budgets.
Unexpected Expenses
Roughly a third of participants stated that they would be unable to cover an unexpected expense of $500 out of pocket if they needed to do so that day.
Leisure Money
Approximately 20% of respondents stated that they are unable to spend a small amount of money on themselves each week.