The U.S. Census Bureau announced an increase in the number of Americans living in poverty in 2023, despite a rise in annual median household incomes. The Supplemental Poverty Measure, used by social scientists to capture the true number of people struggling to meet basic needs, increased to 12.9% from 12.4% in 2022. More Americans are finding it difficult to afford necessities like rent, child care, and medical expenses, leading to a rise in poverty rates. This comes after a larger spike in poverty in 2022 when many low-income Americans lost pandemic-era assistance.
While household incomes increased, the additional money was not enough to cover rising costs like rent and child care. The Official Poverty Measure, which only considers pre-tax income, decreased in 2023, but the actual number of Americans experiencing poverty has gone up. The income gap between men and women widened for the first time in years, with women earning 82.7 cents for every $1 earned by men. Child poverty also increased in 2023, with the child poverty rate rising from 12.4% in 2022 to 13.7% in 2023.
The poverty level income for a family of four is defined as making less than $30,900 annually according to the Official Poverty Measure. However, this measure does not account for different costs of living, unlike the Supplemental Poverty Measure. Economists recommend using living wage calculators to determine how household income compares to the cost of living in a particular area.
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