Poverty Trend in the U.S.

A very well described article from the Minneapolis Fed about poverty in the U.S. The issue is actually a more complex one than is commonly assumed.

"Poverty thresholds in the United States are defined rather simply in terms of income and household size. For a single person under 65 years old, poverty is anything below $10,160. For a family of three (any combination of kids and adults), the threshold is $15,577; a family of six, $26,683.

Now step back and take a historical look. As recently as 1949, the poverty rate was 40 percent. The rate plunged over the next couple of decades, particularly in the 1960s, dropping to a low of about 11 percent in 1973. Since then, poverty has bounced as high as 15 percent after recessions in the early 1980s and early 1990s. After the latter recession, poverty took a steady downward course and got as low as 11.3 percent in 2000—with some states like Minnesota and Wisconsin moving into the single digits."