Poverty in the United States in 2019

"Calendar year 2019 was the last full year before the start of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and the last year of the economic expansion since the Great Recession. The strength of the U.S. economy in 2019 was reflected in low poverty rates—the percentage of the population living in poverty (economic hardship characterized by low income)—for the nation and by demographic group.

While the 2019 poverty estimates do not reflect people’s incomes during the pandemic, the pandemic affected survey data collection for that year, which took place February-April 2020. Instead of a combination of in person interviews and telephone interviews, only telephone interviews were conducted due to social distancing restrictions. That affected the estimates because some respondents were harder to reach by phone than in person, less likely to respond to a telephone interview than an in-person interview, or less likely to respond for other reasons. The increased rate of non response affected persons with low incomes to a greater degree than persons with high incomes. That means that while poverty in 2019 was at or close to a historic low, it was likely not as low as the official estimates suggest.

Bearing the above caveats in mind, the poverty rate in the United States was estimated to be 10.5% in 2019, down from 11.8% in 2018. This was the fifth year in a row that the poverty rate declined. The decline in poverty was broad based, affecting many demographic groups and occurring in every region of the country. The estimated poverty rate fell

 both for women (11.5% in 2019, from 12.9% in 2018) and men (9.4%, from 10.6%);

 among families with a female householder and no spouse present (22.2% in 2019, from 24.8% in 2018), the latest of a series of historic or near-historic lows for this group;

 among Hispanics (15.7% in 2019, from 17.6% in 2018), Whites not of Hispanic origin (7.3%, from 8.1%), Blacks (18.8%, from 20.8%), and Asians(7.3%,from 10.1%);

 for both full-time workers (2.0% in 2019, from 2.3% in 2018) and non workers (26.4%, from 29.7%); and

 in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

Work reduces the estimated likelihood of being in poverty but does not eliminate it entirely: 39.2% of poor 18 to 64-yearolds had jobs in 2019. Furthermore, poverty is measured using the needs and resources from the entire family, meaning that nonworkers in poverty may be living with working family members. Among 18- to 64-year-olds without jobs estimated to be living in poverty, 19.2% lived in families where someone else worked..."
Poverty