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People and families are considered poor when they lack the economic resources necessary to experience a minimally-sufficient standard of living. Official U.S. Census Bureau statistics estimate that 43 million persons, 13.5 percent of the total population, were poor in the United States in 2015. The topic of poverty is widely considered a cause...

50-Year Trends and Safety Net Impacts Report Poverty in the United States: 50-Year Trends and Safety Net Impacts presents analyses of the impact of the safety net on poverty rates and a close look at populations experiencing high risks of poverty during the 50 years since the War on Poverty began....

This paper presents data on the current state of Medicaid, the nation's program providing health and long-term care services to low-income families, elderly, and disabled individuals. The paper reports both historical and projected trends in Medicaid enrollment and spending. Information is presented on trends by major Medicaid eligibility catego...

Return to Poverty Guidelines Poverty Estimates, Trends, and Analysis Introduction This page includes resources on the two slightly different versions of the U.S. (federal) poverty measure:  the poverty thresholds and the poverty guidelines ....

This article discusses the cost of teenage childbearing as estimated by the Center for Population Options (CPO). The single-year cost for all families originating from a teen birth is estimated at approximately $25 billion in 1990, up from $16.6 billion in 1985. The rapid increase in expenditures related to adolescent childbearing is considered a...

This project addressed transition events associated with people entering and exiting poverty using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The study found that poverty entries and exits changed over the past two decades, with an increase in both poverty entries and exits (i.e.,...

The figure above presents alternative poverty trends, first based on the actual definition of resources (the solid line) and then excluding safety net resources (dotted line). The role of transfers is clearly pronounced during the recent Great Recession. Without taxes and transfers, poverty would have risen from 23.6 percent to 28.7 percent (5.1 p...

From 1972 to 1994, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) benefits declined in constant dollars almost without interruption from $8,735 for a mother and two children with no earnings to $4,738. Since food stamps are indexed for inflation, AFDC benefits became a significantly smaller share of the combined total of benefits. Total benefits d...