page_title: Poverty in the United States
section_title: Poverty and race/ethnicity
hierarchical_section_title: Poverty in the United States / Poverty and demographics / Poverty and race/ethnicity
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a figure illustrating the different rates of poverty by sex for Americans over 65 in 2006. It is based on Statistical Abstract data.
context_page_description: Poverty in the United States of America refers to people who lack sufficient income or material possessions for their needs. Although the United States is a relatively wealthy country by international standards, poverty has consistently been present throughout the United States, along with efforts to alleviate it, from New Deal-era legislation during the Great Depression to the national War on Poverty in the 1960s to poverty alleviation efforts during the 2008 Great Recession.
  The U.S. federal government uses two measures to measure poverty: the poverty thresholds set by the U.S. Census Bureau, used for statistical purposes, and the poverty guidelines issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, which are used for administrative purposes. Poverty thresholds, which recognize poverty as a lack of those goods and services are commonly taken for granted by members of mainstream society, consist of income levels. On the other hand, poverty guidelines are simpler guidelines that are used to determine eligibility for federal programs such as Head Start and food stamps.
  According to a 2018 assessment by the U.S.
context_section_description: The US Census declared that in 2014 14.8% of the general population lived in poverty:
  10.1% of all white non-Hispanic persons
  
  12.0% of all Asian persons
  
  23.6% of all Hispanic persons (of any race)
  
  26.2% of all African American persons
  
  28.3% of Native Americans / Alaska Natives
  As of 2010 about half of those living in poverty are non-Hispanic white (19.6 million). Non-Hispanic white children comprised 57% of all poor rural children.
  In FY 2009, African American families comprised 33.3% of TANF families, non-Hispanic white families comprised 31.2%, and 28.8% were Hispanic.
caption: Poverty rates by gender and work status for Americans aged 65 and over
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