America Counts: Stories Behind the Numbers

📖 Learn more about the findings from three new reports on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the United States in new America Counts stories from earlier this week.

Supplemental Poverty Measure Rose in 2023 for Second Consecutive Year

Every year, the Census Bureau releases the official poverty measure and the SPM.

The official poverty measure defines poverty by comparing pretax money income to a poverty threshold adjusted by family size, number of children and householder age.

Continue reading to learn more about:

• How government assistance and taxes impact poverty rates
• Changes in tax policy that affected families differently

Related Stories

Supplemental Poverty Measure Below Official Poverty Rate in 32 States

Unlike the official poverty rate, the Supplemental Poverty Measure accounts for government assistance to low-income families.

Median Household Income Increased in 2023 for First Time Since 2019

Non-Hispanic White households were the only group with higher incomes in 2023. Asian household median income remained the highest among all groups.

How Age and Poverty Level Impact Health Insurance Coverage

The percentage of people without health insurance remained around 8% in 2023 but rates varied by age and poverty level, according to data released earlier this week.

News Release

Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2023

The U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday announced that real median household income increased by 4.0% between 2022 and 2023. This is the first statistically significant annual increase in real median household income since 2019. The official poverty rate fell 0.4 percentage points, to 11.1%, in 2023. The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) rate in 2023 was 12.9%, an increase of 0.5 percentage points from 2022.

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Related Links

• Report: Income in the United States: 2023
• Report: Poverty in the United States: 2023
• Report: Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2023
• America Counts (Spanish): La mediana de ingresos subió en el 2023, por primera vez desde el 2019
• Press Kit: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Statistics
• New Blog: How Updating Annual Poverty Thresholds Impacts Poverty Rates
• New Blog: Using Administrative Data to Evaluate Nonresponse Bias in the 2024 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement

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America Counts features stories on various topics including: 

• Families, Housing, Employment, Business, Education, Economy 
• Emergency Management, Health, Population, Income and Poverty

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