poverty line

12 Stories

This City Has Lowest Rate of Poverty in US

Sheboygan, Wisc., is atop the top 10

(Newser) - An individual making less than $12,060 this year—$24,600 for a family of four—technically lives below the poverty line. About 14% of Americans fit that definition. Some cities have been hit harder than others, and 24/7 Wall St. looked at 382 US metro areas to compile its...

Answer to a Whole Nation's Poverty? Its Richest Person

Top billionaire could end poverty in 3 countries, make inroads in others

(Newser) - As the world's richest and most powerful people leave the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, there was growing discussion about the impact the world's wealthiest could have, single-handedly, on the poverty rates of entire nations. One analyst at the Brookings Institution crunched some numbers and found that,...

More Kids in Poverty Now Than in Recession: Report

And it could have detrimental effects on brain development, researchers say

(Newser) - The Great Recession may be long over, but things didn't pick up for everyone in the years immediately after, especially not for US children: A new report from the nonprofit Annie E. Casey Foundation says that while 18% of American kids lived below the poverty line in 2008, that...

Seattle Transit Charges People Based on Income

ORCA Lift program cut fares by more than half

(Newser) - A Somali immigrant outside Seattle took her child to the doctor this week and left with something unexpected: a card that lets her take public transit for more than 50% off. "What’s the trick in it?" asked the 27-year-old mother of two, Basro Jama. "No trick,"...

Ben Affleck: I Plan to Live on $1.50 a Day

...for at least one day, to bring awareness to global poverty

(Newser) - According to one estimate, 1.4 billion people around the world have to get by on just $1.50 a day. To bring awareness to that fact, Ben Affleck will spend only that much on food and drink for "at least one day" next week. Sophia Bush, Josh Groban,...

US Poverty Rate to Hit Highest Since 1960s

Economists think it'll hit 15.7% this year

(Newser) - The ranks of America's poor are on track to climb to levels unseen in nearly half a century, erasing gains from the war on poverty in the 1960s amid a weak economy and fraying government safety net. The AP surveyed more than a dozen economists, think tanks, and academics,...

Ranks of Poorest Poor Swell to New High

One in 15 live below half the poverty level

(Newser) - We've got the top 1% , the 99% , and the 53% , but the poorest of the nation's poor has hit a new high: 6.7% of Americans now fall below half of the federal poverty line, reports the AP . That means about 20.5 million Americans, or one in...

Nearly 1 in 6 in US Lives in Poverty
 Nearly 1 in 6 in US 
 Lives in Poverty 
census says
Sep 13, 2011 11:41 AM CDT

Nearly 1 in 6 in US Lives in Poverty

In 2010, 15.1% lived below poverty line: US census data

(Newser) - Unsettling news from the US Census Bureau: Nearly one in six people lived in poverty last year. About 46.2 million people, or 15.1%, were below the poverty line, compared to 43.6 million, or 14.3%, in 2009, the AP reports. CNN adds that the poverty rate was...

A Third of Working Families Live in Near-Poverty

Recession has hurt more than just the unemployed

(Newser) - Recession lamenters often focus on the unemployed, but the employed are taking a beating, too. Nearly one in three working families in America is now considered low income, meaning they earn less than twice the official poverty threshold, according to a report released today from the Working Poor Families Project....

Under New Math, 1 in 5 Seniors Is Poor

Outmoded federal statistics don't reflect reality, group says

(Newser) - Based on official statistics, only 10% of Americans aged 65 and older are poor, the lowest rate of any age group. But the actual number should be nearly twice that, finds the National Academy of Sciences, which has developed a new, modern way of calculating poverty that is quickly gaining...

Privatize Abortion Funding to Save Health Care Reform

Independent fund could finance procedures, diffuse criticisms of govt. plan

(Newser) - Abortion threatens to derail the push for health care reform, as opponents use the prospect of subsidized procedures to turn pro-life Americans against the whole plan, writes Meredith Simmons for Slate. Progressives are indignant—abortion is a health procedure, they argue, and should be covered like any other. But excluding...

From Food to Health Care, the Poor Pay More

The economics of poverty mean the poorest pay higher prices for everyday essentials

(Newser) - The economics of poverty are complicated, the Washington Post reports, but it boils down to this: “The poorer you are, the more things cost.” The poor spend more in time, money, hassle, and exhaustion than do the middle class or wealthy on everything from a loaf of bread...

12 Stories