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Poverty
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Trends for selected groups
Historical poverty tables
Overall US population
- Poverty was defined in 1963-64.
- Recessions:
- In the past, the poverty rate and number of people in poverty have gone up during and slightly after a recession.
- Poverty rates and the number of people in poverty have gone down several years after a recession.
- The Census Bureau cannot predict by how much poverty will rise or fall (if at all) during and after recessions. Every recession is different.
- Graph of poverty rates and number in poverty over time [PDF]
- Table of US poverty rate and number in poverty over time (includes race, Hispanic origin, and family status categories)
People 65 years and over, 18 to 64, and under 18 years
- Graph of poverty rates by age over time [PDF]
- Table of poverty rates and number in poverty by age over time
Family type
- Families with a female householder and no husband present tend to have higher poverty rates than married-couple families: see table of poverty by family type
Race and Hispanic Origin
People of Hispanic origin may be of any race. Hispanic origin is a separate question from race in the Current Population Survey.
- Hispanics historically have had poverty rates at or above 20 percent, and their rate has fluctuated over time.
- In 1994 the poverty rate for Hispanics was 30.7 percent, and fell to 21.4 percent in 2001.
- Racial categories were redefined in 2002 for the Current Population Survey (the source of these poverty data). Respondents are now asked to identify themselves in one or more racial groups; previously they had to choose one. Therefore, there is no single way to compare current poverty data to older data by race.
- Until 1995, the poverty rate for Blacks was at or above 30 percent.
- Since then, poverty rates for Blacks fell to 22.5 percent in 2000, with no statistical change in 2001.
- Table of US poverty rate and number in poverty over time (includes race, Hispanic origin, and family status categories)
Other groups are of interest to poverty researchers. Some of these are:
- the foreign-born (see historical poverty data by nativity )
- geographic regions
- whether people live inside or outside of metropolitan areas (see historical poverty data by residence )
View Historical Poverty Tables
Contact the Demographic Call Center Staff at 301-763-2422 or 1-866-758-1060 (toll free) or visit
ask.census.gov for further information on Poverty Statistics.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division
