The data below reflect the national averages for essential poverty and wellbeing statistics. For data that is specific to states and congressional districts, see our poverty by area tool.

Poverty Rates 1

Overall Poverty Rate: 11.4% (37.2 million people)

Percentage of people who fell below the poverty line — $26,246 for a family of four — in 2020

Twice the Poverty Level: 27.5% (89.7 million people)

Percentage of people who fell below twice the poverty line — $52,492 for a family of four — in 2020

Half the Poverty Level: 5.5% (17.9 million people)

Percentage of people who fell below half the poverty line — $13,123 for a family of four — in 2020

Child Poverty Rate: 16.1% (11.6 million people)

Percentage of children under age 18 who fell below the poverty line in 2020

Women’s Poverty Rate: 12.6% (20.9 million people)

Percentage of women who fell below the poverty line in 2020

African American Poverty Rate: 19.5% (8.5 million people)

Percentage of African Americans who fell below the poverty line in 2020

Hispanic Poverty Rate: 17.0% (10.4 million people)

Percentage of Hispanics who fell below the poverty line in 2020

White Poverty Rate: 8.2% (15.9 million people)

Percentage of non-Hispanic whites who fell below the poverty line in 2020

Native American Poverty Rate: 23.0% (600,000 people)

Percentage of Native Americans who fell below the poverty line in 2019

People with Disabilities Poverty Rate: 25.0% (3.6 million people)

Percentage of people with disabilities ages 18 to 64 who fell below the poverty line in 2020


Creating Good Jobs

Income Inequality: 16.4 2

Ratio of the share of income going to the top 20 percent of households versus that going to the bottom 20 percent of households in 2019

High School Graduation Rate: 85.8% 3

Percentage of high school students who graduated on time at the end of the 2018-19 school year

Disconnected Youth: 12% 4

Percentage of youth ages 18 to 24 who were not in school or working in 2019

Higher Education Attainment Rate: 45.8% 5

Percentage of young adults ages 25 to 34 who had an associate’s degree or higher in 2019

Gender Wage Gap: 81.6 cents 6

Median earnings of full-time year-round working women compared to that of men in 2019

Unemployment Rate: 8.1% 7

Percentage of all workers who were unemployed in 2020

Unemployment Insurance Coverage: 77.6% 8

Percentage of unemployed workers who received unemployment insurance in 2020


Strengthening Families and Communities

Children Living Apart from Parents: 6 9

Number of children who lived in foster care for every 1,000 children under age 18 in 2019


Promoting Family Economic Security

Hunger and Food Insecurity: 10.5% 10

Percentage of households who were food insecure in 2020, meaning that at some point during the year, they experienced difficulty providing enough food due to a lack of money or resources.

Affordable and Available Housing: 60 11

Number of apartments or other units that were affordable and available for every 100 renter households with very low incomes in 2019. Very low-income households are those with incomes at or below 50% of the area median income.

Savings and Assets: 4.8% 12

Percentage of households that used nonbank credit during 2019. This includes using a rent-to-own service or a payday, auto title, pawn shop, or tax refund anticipation loan.

Lack of Health Insurance Coverage: 18.2% 13

Percentage of people under age 65 and below 138% of the poverty line who did not have health insurance at any time in 2019.


1. The majority of poverty rate data are from Emily A. Shrider, Melissa Kollar, Frances Chen, and Jessica Semega for the U.S. Census Bureau, “Income and Poverty in the United States: 2020” (United States Department of Commerce, 2021), available at https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2021/demo/p60-273.pdf. The exception is the poverty rate for Native Americans, which is from United States Census Bureau, Selected Population Profile in the United States: 2019 American Community Survey 1-year Estimates, (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2019) available at https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=S0201&lastDisplayedRow=344&table=S0201&tid=ACSSPP1Y2018.S0201&hidePreview=true&t=006%20-%20American%20Indian%20and%20Alaska%20Native%20alone%20%28300,%20A01-Z99%29.
2. United States Census Bureau, Shares of Aggregate Household Income by Quintile: 2019 American Community Survey 1-year Estimates, (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2019) available at https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=B19082&lastDisplayedRow=6&table=B19082&tid=ACSDT1Y2018.B19082&hidePreview=true&g=0100000US,.04000.001&y=2018&tp=true.
3. National Center for Education Statistics, Public high school 4-year adjusted cohort graduation rate (ACGR) for the United States, (U.S. Department of Education, 2020), available at https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/tables/ACGR_RE_and_characteristics_2018-19.asp.
4. Kids Count Data Center, Persons age 18 to 24 not attending school, not working, and no degree beyond high school (The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2020), available at https://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/5063-persons-age-18-to-24-not-attending-school-not-working-and-no-degree-beyond-high-school?loc=1&loct=1#detailed/1/any/true/1729/any/11485.
5. United States Census Bureau, Sex by Age by Educational Attainment: 2018 American Community Survey 1-year Estimates, (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2019) available at https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=B15001&lastDisplayedRow=24&table=B15001&tid=ACSDT1Y2018.B15001&hidePreview=true&g=0100000US.04000.001&tp=true.
6. United States Census Bureau, Selected Population Profile in the U.S: 2018 American Community Survey 1-year Estimates, (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2019) available at https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=B20017&lastDisplayedRow=9&table=B20017&tid=ACSDT1Y2018.B20017&hidePreview=true&g=0100000US.04000.001&tp=true.
7. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, 2020, available at https://www.bls.gov/lau/lastrk20.htm.
8. Employment and Training Administration, Unemployment Insurance Chartbook, (U.S. Department of Labor, 2020), available at https://ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/chartbook.asp.
9. Kids Count Data Center, Children 0 to 17 in Foster Care, (The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2021), available at https://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/6242-children-0-to-17-in-foster-care?loc=1&loct=2#detailed/2/2-52/true/1729/any/any.
10. Alisha Coleman-Jensen, Matthew Rabbitt, Christian Gregory, and Anita Singh for the Economic Research Service, “Household Food Security in the United States in 2020”, No. 298, (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2021), available at https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/102076/err-298.pdf?v=7508.8.
11. National Low Income Housing Coalition, “The Gap” (2021), available at https://reports.nlihc.org/sites/default/files/gap/Gap-Report_2021.pdf
12. Federal Deposit Insurance Commission, “How America Banks: Household Use of Banking and Financial Services”, (FDIC, 2020), available at https://www.fdic.gov/analysis/household-survey/2019report.pdf.
13. United States Census Bureau, Health Insurance Coverage Status by Ratio of Income to Poverty: American Community Survey 1-year Estimates, (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2019), available at https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=c27016&lastDisplayedRow=9&table=C27016&tid=ACSDT1Y2018.C27016&hidePreview=true&g=0100000US.04000.001&tp=true.