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The Center’s core funding is from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation

National Poverty Statistics

May 24, 2012 Post

A consumer’s guide to interpreting various U.S. poverty measures
David S. Johnson and Timothy M. Smeeding, Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty, Fast Focus No. 14-2012

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May 24, 2012

Each year, the U.S. Census Bureau releases a number of public reports on the level of poverty in the previous year and trends in the level and composition of the poor from year to year. This issue of Fast Focus seeks to make sense of these various measures at the federal, state, and local levels.

February 10, 2012 Post

Measures of Poverty
Poverty Thresholds and Guidelines

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February 10, 2012

There are two measures of poverty issued annually by the federal government: Poverty thresholds from the Census Bureau and poverty guidelines issued by the Department of Health and Human Services.  Both of these measures are intended to identify the level of income necessary to meet basic needs.

February 13, 2012 Post

Official Poverty Statistics
from the Current Population Survey

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February 13, 2012

The official poverty statistics, which have been in use since the 1960s, calculate poverty status by comparing a family’s or an individual’s cash
income to their poverty threshold. If a family’s total income is less than the family’s threshold, then that family and every individual in it is considered in poverty.

The Census Bureau produces annual reports providing numbers and rates of people in poverty with select breakdown by demographic and socio-economic characteristics.

January 26, 2012 Post

Research Supplemental Poverty Measure
An Alternative Measure of Poverty

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January 26, 2012

In 2011, the Census Bureau issued a paper that laid groundwork for developing a new Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) for the United States. This paper illustrate differences between the official measure of poverty and a poverty measure that takes account of in-kind benefits received by families and nondiscretionary expenses that they must pay.

February 10, 2012 Post

Experimental Poverty Measures
Other Alternative Measures from the Census Bureau

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February 10, 2012

Prior to the publication of the Research Supplemental Poverty Measure in 2011,  the Census Bureau conducted a variety of studies looking at how income distribution changes when the definition of income is varied to include or exclude different components.  These reports were issued irregularly and, though unofficial and experimental in nature, add to our understanding of poverty.

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