The data below reflect the national averages for essential poverty and wellbeing statistics. For data that is specific to states and congressional districts, see our poverty by area tool. Show Poverty Rates 1Overall Poverty Rate: 11.4% (37.2 million people)Percentage of people who fell below the poverty line — $26,246 for a family of four — in 2020 Twice the Poverty Level: 27.5% (89.7 million people)Percentage of people who fell below twice the poverty line — $52,492 for a family of four — in 2020 Half the Poverty Level: 5.5% (17.9 million people)Percentage of people who fell below half the poverty line — $13,123 for a family of four — in 2020 Child Poverty Rate: 16.1% (11.6 million people)Percentage of children under age 18 who fell below the poverty line in 2020 Women’s Poverty Rate: 12.6% (20.9 million people)Percentage of women who fell below the poverty line in 2020 African American Poverty Rate: 19.5% (8.5 million people)Percentage of African Americans who fell below the poverty line in 2020 Hispanic Poverty Rate: 17.0% (10.4 million people)Percentage of Hispanics who fell below the poverty line in 2020 White Poverty Rate: 8.2% (15.9 million people)Percentage of non-Hispanic whites who fell below the poverty line in 2020 Native American Poverty Rate: 23.0% (600,000 people)Percentage of Native Americans who fell below the poverty line in 2019 People with Disabilities Poverty Rate: 25.0% (3.6 million people)Percentage of people with disabilities ages 18 to 64 who fell below the poverty line in 2020 Creating Good JobsIncome Inequality: 16.4 2Ratio of the share of income going to the top 20 percent of households versus that going to the bottom 20 percent of households in 2019 High School Graduation Rate: 85.8% 3Percentage of high school students who graduated on time at the end of the 2018-19 school year Disconnected Youth: 12% 4Percentage of youth ages 18 to 24 who were not in school or working in 2019 Higher Education Attainment Rate: 45.8% 5Percentage of young adults ages 25 to 34 who had an associate’s degree or higher in 2019 Gender Wage Gap: 81.6 cents 6Median earnings of full-time year-round working women compared to that of men in 2019 Unemployment Rate: 8.1% 7Percentage of all workers who were unemployed in 2020 Unemployment Insurance Coverage: 77.6% 8Percentage of unemployed workers who received unemployment insurance in 2020 Strengthening Families and CommunitiesChildren Living Apart from Parents: 6 9Number of children who lived in foster care for every 1,000 children under age 18 in 2019 Promoting Family Economic SecurityHunger and Food Insecurity: 10.5% 10Percentage of households who were food insecure in 2020, meaning that at some point during the year, they experienced difficulty providing enough food due to a lack of money or resources. Affordable and Available Housing: 60 11Number of apartments or other units that were affordable and available for every 100 renter households with very low incomes in 2019. Very low-income households are those with incomes at or below 50% of the area median income. Savings and Assets: 4.8% 12Percentage of households that used nonbank credit during 2019. This includes using a rent-to-own service or a payday, auto title, pawn shop, or tax refund anticipation loan. Lack of Health Insurance Coverage: 18.2% 13Percentage of people under age 65 and below 138% of the poverty line who did not have health insurance at any time in 2019. 1. The majority of poverty rate data are from Emily A. Shrider, Melissa Kollar, Frances Chen, and Jessica Semega for the U.S. Census Bureau, “Income and Poverty in the United States: 2020” (United States Department of Commerce, 2021), available at https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2021/demo/p60-273.pdf. The exception is the poverty rate for Native Americans, which is from United States Census Bureau, Selected Population Profile in the United States: 2019 American Community Survey 1-year Estimates, (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2019) available at https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=S0201&lastDisplayedRow=344&table=S0201&tid=ACSSPP1Y2018.S0201&hidePreview=true&t=006%20-%20American%20Indian%20and%20Alaska%20Native%20alone%20%28300,%20A01-Z99%29.
Before the mid-1970s, economic growth in the United States was associated with falling poverty rates. If that relationship had held, poverty would have been eradicated in the 1980s. The decoupling of rising growth and falling poverty, however, means that Americans are working longer and harder but becoming poorer and less economically secure. Quick facts
Other dimensions of poverty
Since 1973’s historical low of 11.1 percent poverty in the United States, poverty rates generally rise during recessions and drop during recoveries. The recovery following the 2001 recession, however, saw poverty increase and then further explode during the Great Recession. From 2008 through 2009, 32.2 percent were in poverty for at least one month, and 52.6 percent were below twice poverty for a least one month. In addition, 4.6 percent were in poverty for the entirety of the two-year period, while 18 percent were at twice poverty for the entirety. Therefore, the official poverty rate of 15.1 percent understates the number of people who experience poverty. Income inequality is greatest cause of higher poverty ratesIncome inequality is the largest factor contributing to higher poverty rates. Increased numbers of minorities and single-mother-headed households are often cited as determinants of higher poverty rates, though they are much smaller contributing factors. A study of the 1979–2007 period finds:
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What race is the poorest in the United States
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