Poverty in the United States
Historical national poverty rates
Poverty by state, 1990 to present
Poverty by age, 1988 to present
Notes: Official estimates of poverty
appear in P60 reports from the U.S. Census Bureau, which
bases estimates on the March Current Population Survey. The
estimates on these pages are also
based on the March Current Population Survey, but are not official estimates.
Near poverty includes those with incomes less than twice the poverty line, and deep poverty those with incomes less than half the poverty line. State-specific estimates are three-year weighted moving averages. Contact Austin Nichols at the Urban Institute for details of calculations.
Note that the Census Bureau’s
Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) program
also produces annual poverty estimates for all states and counties,
based on data from a variety of sources, including administrative
records. The SAIPE estimates have lower variance than March CPS estimates but are
released later due to the delayed availability of administrative records.