![US Census Bureau News Release](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106171021im_/http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/img/commerce.gif)
Poverty data offer an important way to evaluate the nation's economic well-being. Because poor people in the United States are too diverse to be characterized along any one dimension, this report illustrates how poverty rates vary by selected characteristics-age, race and Hispanic origin, nativity, family composition, work experience, and geography. These data reveal how many people were poor and how the poverty population has changed.