The thresholds change depending on the household's size and the family's composition. For a family consisting of one individual who is under the age of 65, the poverty level in 2021 was $14,097. The proportion has increased from 10.5% in 2019 to this current level. Since 2010, the poverty rate has decreased from 15.1% to 2%.

U.S. Poverty Overview

The United States' official poverty rate in 2020 was 11.4%. Census. This indicates that 11.4% of people living in the United States earned less than the federal poverty line. Consider some of the following facts on poverty in the United States:

• According to research conducted by the Census Bureau in September 2021, women made up more than 56% of the population of persons who were living in poverty in 2020.
• In 2020, 8.2% of those living in poverty were white people who were not Hispanic, compared to 17% of those who were Hispanic of any race, 19.5% of those who were black, and 8.1% of those who were Asian.
• According to the figures from 2020, just 4% of persons aged 25 or older living in poverty have completed some level of higher education.
• A little less than one-quarter of persons aged 25 or older living in poverty have not completed high school. Another 13.2% of the population had a high school diploma but had not continued their education beyond high school. In comparison, 8.4% of the population had attended college but did not graduate with a degree.
• Unfortunately, 16.1% of those living in poverty in 2020 will be under 18. In 2020, those aged 65 and older made up another 9% of the poor population.
• About 11.1% of persons born in the United States were living in poverty, whereas 13.4% of those born outside of the country were poor. Of those born outside the United States, 9.2% had become naturalized citizens, while 17.8% did not have citizenship.
• 1.6% of individuals living in poverty were employed full-time for the whole year, 11.3% were employed part-time, and 28.8% were unemployed for at least one week.
• The nation's welfare program is Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or TANF. In 2020, it will provide service to around 2 million individuals. That's merely 5% of the approximately 40 million people living below the poverty line. Roughly 17% of the approximately 11.6 million children in poverty received assistance, which was only provided to 1.6 million children.

U.S. Poverty on a State Level

The Census provides statistics on the poverty level in each state as an average for the last two years. The proportion of individuals living in each state considered poor as of 2018 and 2019 is shown on the interactive map below.

States With the Highest Poverty Rates

The Southeast has four of the ten states with the highest poverty rates. The following is a list of the poverty rates for 2019-2020 for the nine states with the highest rate of poverty and Washington, DC:

• Mississippi: 18.4%
• Louisiana: 16.7%
• 15.9 percent in New Mexico
• 14.6% of the population in the District of Columbia
• 14.2% are located in South Carolina.
• Arkansas: 14.1%
• West Virginia: 14.0%
• Alabama: 13.9%
• Kentucky: 13.8%
• 13.2 percent in North Carolina

The States That Have the Fewest People Living in Poverty Several states with relatively low rates of poverty are located either in the Northeast or in close proximity to a large metropolis on the East Coast.

Impact of Minimum Wage on Poverty Rates

An individual who works 40 hours per week and 52 weeks per year would earn a total of $15,080 per year if the minimum wage is adhered to. That is slightly more than $1,000 over the poverty level for persons under the age of 65 in 2021, which is $14,097. In the year 2020, 1.112 million hourly paid employees received wages that were equal to or lower than the federal minimum wage.

The other two states are Arkansas and New Mexico. Only one of them, West Virginia, has a minimum wage lower than $9 per hour. By January 2022, thirty states and the District of Columbia will have higher rates than the national average. The minimum wage in Massachusetts was raised to $14.25 per hour from its previous rate of $13.75 per hour. The minimum wage is adjusted for inflation in 18 states and the District of Columbia. That implies that it will automatically modify itself each year to account for any price rises. Twenty-six states have announced plans to raise their minimum wages in 2022, and twenty-two of those states have already implemented those plans.