Poverty and Income Data

  • Despite welcome reductions in poverty during the long economic expansion of the 1990s, poverty in the United States rose during the economic downturn that followed. Poverty has not fallen by a statistically significant amount since before the recession began. September’s Census Bureau release will tell us more about whether the recession (which officially began in June 2009) has finally begun to reach the low-income population.

    In 2011, the poverty rate was 15 percent. This rate would have to fall to 12.5 percent to reach the pre-Recession 2007 level and 11.3 percent to reach the 2000 level.

    CHN posts data and analyses that document human need – poverty, income, unemployment, health coverage, housing, social services, taxation, etc. You will find direct links to official government statistics and independent studies. In addition to national data, you will find state information covering a wide array of topics.

    For more information on this issue, visit CHN’s Public Policy Priorities, 2013-2014.

    State-by-state statistical data