Poverty and Income

This is the 2020 version of the federal poverty measure, published annually by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
View the 2020 guidelines.
View poverty guidelines from previous years.

Hunger Task Force serves more than 48,000 meals per month at our soup kitchens, helps more than 29,000 people receive emergency food at our pantries each month, and distributes nearly 9,000 Stockboxes a month to senior citizens in Milwaukee County. How do so many people need help? Put yourself in their shoes and find out! Play the online game SPENT to see what it is like to make hard, life-changing choices just to survive and feed your family. See if you can make it through the month!
Visit the SPENT! website.

This annual U.S. Census Bureau report presents data on income, earnings, income inequality, and poverty in the United States based on information collected in recent Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplements (CPS ASEC) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Download Income and Poverty in the United States: 2016.
Download the 2015 report | 2014 report | 2013 report | 2012 report | 2011 report | 2010 report | 2009 report | 2008 report | 2007 report| 2006 report | 2005 report | 2004 report | 2003 report | 2002 report | 2001 report.

The Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness (ICPH) is an independent nonprofit research organization based in New York City. Drawing on the talent of an experienced, professional research staff, the Institute produces action-oriented research designed to illuminate the complex issue of family homelessness and inform and enhance public policy related to homeless families.
Visit the ICPH website.

The National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) identifies and promotes strategies that prevent child poverty in the United States and that improve the lives of low-income children and their families. It conducts and synthesizes relevant research to meet the needs of key audiences that work on issues affecting low-income families. NCCP also provides an extensive list of publications as well as demographic, state, and local information on child poverty in the U.S.
Visit the National Center for Children in Poverty website.

This webpage from the National Center for Children in Poverty provides statistical information about low-income children focusing on various areas of interest, including family income level; parental presence, education, employment, and marital status; the child's age and race-ethnicity; and family residential area and moves.
Visit the NCCP 50-State Demographics Wizard webpage.

The mission of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP) is to prevent and end homelessness by serving as the legal arm of the nationwide movement to end homelessness. To achieve its mission, NLCHP pursues three main strategies: impact litigation, policy advocacy, and public education. Visit NLCHP's website for valuable resources in the areas of housing, income, children and youth, civil rights, and domestic violence.
Visit the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty website.

What's life like at the poverty line? It's one impossible choice after another - between food and medicine, getting to work or paying the heating bill. But there are ways out. Tour Poverty USA below and find out what life is like at the poverty line - and how you can help.
Visit Poverty USA | Pobreza USA.

This November 2011 brief from Child Trends examines recent poverty data and trends over the past decade through a two-generation lens. The brief draws on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, and presents a sharpened two-generation lens on the poverty and low-income status of children and families in 2010, and on trends in poverty and low-income status among children and families during the first decade of the 21^st century. In addition, it presents data on differences in poverty and low-income status across race and ethnic origin, age, family structure, gender, education, full-time employment status, and geography.
Download Two Generations in Poverty: Status and Trends among Parents and Children in the United States, 2000-2010.

This portion of the U.S. Census Bureau website provides information about poverty in the United States, including poverty thresholds, methods for measuring poverty, and historical tables.
Visit the U.S. Census Bureau Poverty webpage.