Tough Choices begins not with a hypothesis, but rather a question. Statistically, the Center for Public Policy Priorities knows that low-income Texas families are engaged in a juggling act--struggling to survive on limited income. If the center could ask even a few of them how they manage, what would they tell them? What does it mean to earn too little? How can their experiences inform the decisions facing policymakers? Based on more than 30 hours of interviews that yielded over 160,000 transcribed words, Tough Choices features actual stories from six low-income working families in Austin and nearby rural communities, whom we interviewed for several months in 2004. These families spoke with the center openly and eloquently about the meaning of their experiences, providing us not just with insight into their lives, but the lives of more than half a million working poor families in Texas. They gave the data a voice. [Additional support for this research was provided by the Houston Endowment.] (Contains 11 endnotes.)