Research Guides: Poverty in America: Statistical Sources

Statistical Sources

Social Explorer This link opens in a new window
Social Explorer is an online research tool designed to provide quick and easy access to historical census data and demographic information. It creates fast, intuitive, and appealing maps and reports to help users visually analyze and understand demography and social change throughout history.
Statista This link opens in a new window
Statista is the leading statistics company on the Internet. Statista aggregates data on a professional level from different institutes and sources. There are over 80,000 topics from more than 22,500 different sources available. Each statistic can be downloaded in different formats so that they can be integrated into the document (Graphic PNG file, PowerPoint file, PDF file and Excel chart). Each statistic has a citation and the source document for each statistic is presented as well.

Income Inequality
Census Bureau statistics on income can shed some light on the ongoing debate on income inequality in the United States. Using data from three surveys --- the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC), the American Community Survey (ACS) and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) --- reports, tables, graphs and maps summarize the way income and wealth are distributed across the population.
Poverty Rates
Poverty rates for all persons and poverty status of related children under age 18, by region and state: Selected years, 1990 through 2019
Poverty Statistics
The Census Bureau provides poverty data from several household surveys and programs.
Poverty Thresholds
For statistical purposes (e.g., counting the poor population), the United States Census Bureau uses a set of annual income levels. Links to yearly poverty thresholds back to 1959.
Working Poor
Annual report on persons who, during the year, spent 27 weeks or more in the labor force (working or looking for work), but whose incomes still fell below the official poverty level.