Poverty in the United States in 2016: In Brief (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised Oct. 25, 2017 |
| Report Number |
R44991 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Dalaker, Joseph |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
In 2016, approximately 40.6 million people, or 12.7% of the population, had incomes that fell below the official definition of poverty in the United States. These statistics represented a noticeable drop from the previous year, both in the number of poor, which had been 43.1 million in 2015, and the poverty rate (the percentage that were in poverty), which fell from 13.5%. This was also the first year that the poverty rate was not statistically different from the rate in 2007, the last year before the most recent recession.
The poverty rate for female-householder families (26.6%) was higher in 2016 than that for male-householder families (13.1%) or married-couple families (5.1%).
Among children, the poverty rate fell to 18.0% in 2016, representing 13.3 million children, down from 19.7% and 14.5 million in 2015.
Poverty is not equally prevalent in all parts of the country. State poverty rates in Mississippi (20.8%), Louisiana (20.2%), and New Mexico (19.8%) were statistically tied for highest. New Hampshire's poverty rate (7.3%) was lowest in 2016.
Criticisms of the official poverty measure have inspired poverty measurement research and eventually led to the development of the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM). The SPM uses different definitions of needs and resources than the official measure.
The poverty rate under the SPM (14.0%) was about 1.3 percentage points higher in 2016 than the official poverty rate (12.7%).
Under the SPM, the profile of the poverty population is slightly different than under the official measure. Compared with the official measure, poverty rates under the SPM were lower for children (15.2% compared with 18.0%) and higher for working-age adults (13.3% compared with 11.6%) and the population ages 65 and older (14.5% compared with 9.3%).
The SPM includes the effects of taxes and in-kind benefits (such as housing, energy, and food assistance) on poverty, while the official measure does not. Because some types of tax credits are used to assist the poor (as are other forms of assistance), the SPM may be of interest to policymakers. However, the official measure provides a comparison of the poor population over a longer time period, including some years before many current anti-poverty assistance programs had been developed. In developing poverty-related legislation and conducting oversight on programs that aid the low-income population, policymakers may be interested in these historical trends.
