Twenty-five percent of Michigan households have no financial cushion, and the slightest crisis - a hike in rent, an illness or a broken-down car - can send a family spiraling into poverty, according to a new study.

Those households - totaling 959,784 in 2015 - are led by families who are employed and above the poverty-line but bring home a paycheck that doesn't stretch far enough to cover household needs, according to the study by the Michigan Association of United Ways.

"There just isn't the savings to cushion the things that happen in life," said Nancy Lindman, the group's interim CEO. "It could be a car battery, it could be an elongated illness."

The study refers to these households as ALICE - Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. The percentage of households falling into this category -- 25 percent in 2015 -- has largely remained flat in recent years.

It peaked at 26 percent in 2010 before hitting a low of 24 percent in 2012. The group of struggling Michigan households grows to 40 percent if those below the poverty line are included.

Factors contributing to the often precarious circumstances the households find themselves in: a labor market where most jobs are low wage, according to the study.

Total earnings climbed by 19 percent from 2010 to 2015, the report says. However, 62 percent of jobs in the state pay less than $20 an hour, suggesting that "workers earning higher wages are responsible for the increase in total earnings, while low-wage workers' earnings have not kept pace."

Those low-earnings can make it tough for a family to pay for the basic needs in life, such as housing, childcare, food, transportation and health care. The study estimates that, for a family of four, one parent would need a job with an hourly wage of $28.04 - or $14.02 if both parents work - to meet a basic "survival" budget.

The percentage of struggling households varies across the state, from 27 percent in Livingston County to 59 percent in Lake County. That count includes households in poverty as well as families above that threshold but whose paychecks don't cover household needs.