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What is Guaranteed Minimum Income?

Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI) is a form of direct cash support designed to create a predictable minimum level of income people can rely on to cover basic needs — an income floor.

In most modern GMI programs:

  • Eligible participants receive a set amount of money on a regular schedule (often monthly)
  • The cash is typically unconditional: there is no work requirement and no restriction on how the money must be spent

A predictable income floor

GMI focuses on one practical goal: helping people have enough income to meet essentials and make plans. Instead of limiting support to specific categories (like food or housing), GMI provides cash so individuals and families can direct resources to what matters most in their situation — rent, groceries, utilities, transportation, childcare, education, paying down debt, or handling an unexpected bill.

Common features

Most GMI programs share a few common design elements:

  • Direct cash — money delivered to the participant, not vouchers or item-restricted benefits (like food-only support)
  • Predictable timing — delivered on a consistent schedule so people can budget
  • Few conditions — typically no work requirement and no spending rules
  • Simple delivery — often designed to reduce paperwork and complicated rules compared to other benefit systems
US currency bills in various denominations on a wooden table, alongside an open calendar showing the month of May

GMI vs. Universal Basic Income (UBI)

GMI and UBI are related ideas, but they are not the same:

  • Universal Basic Income (UBI) is typically universal — everyone receives it, regardless of income
  • Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI) is typically designed to provide a minimum income level, often focusing support on people below a certain income threshold or within a particular community

Implementation

GMI can be delivered in different ways, including:

  • Time‑limited pilots and studies run by cities, counties, states, or nonprofits
  • Tax‑based approaches that “top up” income (such as the earned income tax credit, adding income through reduced taxes)
  • Ongoing public cash benefits in specific contexts

Because program design differs by place, many efforts include evaluation so communities can learn from real outcomes rather than assumptions.

Research and evaluation

Since cash can affect many parts of life, GMI studies often track outcomes such as:

  • household financial stability and ability to handle emergencies
  • work, job search, and education decisions
  • physical and mental health, including stress
  • parenting and child well‑being
  • community and local economic effects

How RGMII uses the term “GMI”

For the Rural Guaranteed Minimum Income Initiative, “GMI” refers to rural county‑level programs that provide predictable monthly cash to eligible residents, paired with research designed to document how people experience cash support, how outcomes vary across contexts, and what factors shape different trajectories. The research is descriptive, with surveys and interviews to document experiences – not designed to prove cause and effect.