The US poverty rate when first measured in 1959 was 22.4%. The rate declined during the 1960s. Since then, however, poverty has consistently been between 10% and 15%. The most recent official poverty measure estimates that 11.4% of the US population, 37.2 million people, were poor in 2020.
In 2018, poverty in the US was set as an annual income less than $25,465 for a family of four with two adults and two children. This measure takes into account the cost of food, but leaves out significant costs of living, such housing, transportation, child care, and medical costs.
The poor are represented disproportionately by ethnicity and/or family type:
| African American | 19.5% |
| Hispanic | 17.0% |
| White | 10.1% |
| Asian | 8.1% |
| Single Mother | 23.4% |
| Single Father | 11.4% |
| Married | 4.7% |
In the United States, women, especially women of color, are more likely to live in poverty than men. In 2018, almost 10 million women experienced “deep poverty“, defined as falling below 50 percent of the federal poverty line. Women of nearly all ethnicities face higher rates of poverty than men. The highest rates of poverty are experienced by American Indian or Alaska Native women, Black women, and Latinas.
Among women, unmarried mothers have the highest rates of poverty. Almost one-quarter of unmarried mothers live below the poverty line. In 2018, 11.9 million children younger than age 18 lived in poverty, making up 31.1 percent of those living in poverty.
Poverty by Location Bottom Five
| Location | Population | Below Poverty Line | Poverty Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Puerto Rico | 3,227,457 | 1,400,958 | 43.41% |
| Mississippi | 2,883,074 | 564,439 | 19.58% |
| Louisiana | 4,532,187 | 845,230 | 18.65% |
| New Mexico | 2,053,909 | 381,026 | 18.55% |
| West Virginia | 1,755,591 | 300,152 | 17.10% |
Families trapped in a cycle of poverty often don’t have the tools to escape. The cycle of poverty begins when a child is born into a poor family. There usually are limited or no resources to create opportunities to advance themselves, which pulls them into the poverty trap. The poverty cycle is recognized to occur when families are impoverished for three generations.
Breaking the Cycle
One of the biggest contributors to ending poverty is education. Even a basic education – reading, writing and arithmetic – can make a difference. Adults with a basic education are better equipped to find and take advantage of employment or entrepreneurial opportunities. Girls who stay in school are less likely to marry early, contributing to their overall health and well-being. They can more effectively teach their children, helping lift an entire generation.
Breaking the poverty cycle is complicated – but one thing seems consistent. Parents have the greatest influence on their children’s economic well-being.