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Living in poverty is a main factor associated with poorer health status as well as lack of access to healthcare. Poverty thresholds are determined by the U.S. government, and vary according to the size of a family and the ages of its members. In 2021, the poverty threshold, or poverty line, for one individual was $12,784; for a family of four it was $25,701. In 2021, 38.1 million people lived in poverty in the United States. This is almost 12 percent of the total population. Poverty disproportionally affects women, single-parent families, and people living with a disability. In 2021, 11.9 million children (1 in every 6 children) and more than 14 percent of seniors lived in poverty. Regarding race/ethnicity (Figure 2.2), Native Americans had the highest poverty rate (25.4 percent), followed by Blacks (20.8 percent) and Hispanics (of any race) (17.6 percent). Whites and Asians had a poverty rate of 10.1 percent (Poverty USA, 2021).

Figure 2.2 Poverty by Race/Ethnicity

Source: PovertyUSA.org, 2020. Poverty Facts. The Population of Poverty USA. PovertyUSA.org. © 2019 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, D.C.

Poverty has significant implications on whether people are able to meet basic needs, like food and housing. For example, the Department of Agriculture estimated that 11 percent of U.S. households were food insecure in 2018 (Figure 2.3). This means that approximately 14.3 million households had difficulty providing enough food for all their members due to a lack of resources. More than 35 percent of households with incomes below the Federal poverty line were food insecure (Mentzer Morrison, 2020).

Figure 2.3 Food Insecurity Note: Food-insecure households include those with low food security and very low food security.

Sources: USDA; Economic Research Service using data from the 2018 Current Population Survey Food Security supplement; U.S .Census Bureau.

Housing is key to reducing intergenerational poverty and increasing economic mobility. Even in the United States, increasing access to affordable housing is the most cost-effective strategy for reducing childhood poverty and increasing economic mobility. However, 75 percent of all extremely low-income families spend more than half their income on rent. Similarly, losing housing has a ripple effect on obtaining basic necessities such as food and medicines, leads to depression and child abuse, and compromises education (Cunningham, 2016). Despite this, over half a million Americans go homeless on a single night in the United States (The Council of Economic Advisors, 2019).