Demographic and Social Characteristics of Persons in Poverty: 2018 (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
March 26, 2020 |
| Report Number |
R46294 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Joseph Dalaker |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
This report provides a snapshot of the characteristics of the poor in the United States in 2018. It shows that people from families whose income falls below the federal poverty thresholds represent a diverse subset of the overall population.
There were 38.1 million people living below the federal poverty level in 2018, representing 11.8% of the total population.
Nearly half (45.3%) of all people in poverty lived in deep poverty (with income below 50% of the poverty threshold).
The largest share of people in poverty were non-Hispanic white (41.2%) but the majority were not. Almost all other racial and ethnic groups were over-represented among the poor, relative to their prevalence in the overall population. Similar to the overall population, children who were poor were more racially and ethnically diverse than adults who were poor, especially aged adults.
A majority (56.0%) of poor people were women.
Children (under age 18) were disproportionately represented among people in poverty, constituting slightly less than one-third (31.1%) of this group.
Over two-thirds of poor children (68.1%) lived in families where there was at least one worker, compared with 11.0% who lived in families with at least two workers. Conversely, in the overall population, half of all children lived in families with two workers.
Most poor children lived in single parent homes, but nearly one-third (32.2%) lived in married-couple families. Over two-thirds (68.2%) of children in the overall population lived in married-couple families.
The majority of people in poverty were working-age adults (age 18-64).
While most (77.3%) working-age adults in the overall population were working in 2018, most (63.2%) working-age adults in poverty were not working in 2018. The most common reasons reported for non-work among those in poverty were illness or disability, the need to meet caretaking responsibilities, or being enrolled in school.
Although most working-aged adults in poverty were not working, 36.8% were working in 2018; 12.0% were working full-time, full-year.
Most working-age adults in poverty lacked a post-secondary educational credential; 78.9% had a high school diploma or less, compared to 56.0% in the overall population.
Among people in poverty, 13.5% were aged (age 65 and older); because aged adults make up 16.3% of the overall population, this means they are underrepresented among people in poverty.
The vast majority of aged adults in poverty either had, or lived in families that had, income from work or from retirement or other social insurance tied to prior work.
Aged adults in poverty are far more likely to live alone than aged adults overall (49.9% compared to 28.0%).
