Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) Model-based Small Area Income & Poverty Estimates for School Districts, Counties, and States
The U.S. Census Bureau’s Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates
(SAIPE) program provides annual estimates of income and poverty
statistics for all school districts, counties, and states.
The main objective of this program is to provide estimates of
income and poverty for the administration of federal programs
and the allocation of federal funds to local jurisdictions.
In addition to these federal programs, state and local
programs use the income and poverty estimates for distributing
funds and managing programs.
Frequency and Timespan: Mostly annual from 1989 to the present
Geographic Level of Coverage: States, counties and school
disticts
Source:
U.S. Census Bureau.Model-based Small Area Income & Poverty
Estimates (SAIPE) for School Districts, Counties, and States
(Web
Site) Accessed 7/9/2014
Each year, the U.S. Census Bureau counts people in poverty with
two measures. Both the official and supplemental poverty measures
are based on estimates of the level of income needed to cover
basic needs. Those who live in households with earnings below
those incomes are considered to be in poverty.
In 2015, poverty rates across the four Census geographic regions
ranged from 11.7 percent in the Midwest, 12.4 percent in the
Northeast, 13.3 percent in the West and 15.3 percent in the
South. Because of the South’s largest share of the total U.S.
population, it has the largest number of people who live in
poverty compared to any other region.
In 2010, 15% of people lived in poverty. Poverty is not
evenly distributed across neighborhoods and every state has
neighborhoods with higher than average poverty rates.
