Families are in poverty if they are below 100% of the Federal Poverty Level, a measure that takes both total family income and family size into account. Many consider the income threshold for poverty to be very low, so researchers and policy makers often consider families below 150% or 200% of the Federal Poverty Level to be low income. Many state and Federal programs, including SCHIP and Medicaid, use a family's Federal Poverty Level as part of determining a person's eligibility.

Family income is the sum of all the individual amounts of income from each source for each family member. Sources of income include alimony, child support, dividend, disability, education assistance, financial assistance, interest, public assistance, retirement, rent, self-employment, survivor, supplemental security income, social security, workers compensation, veterans, unemployment compensation, wage and salary, and "other income."

If either age or poverty filters are applied to your tables, SHADAC recommends using 2-year estimates. If both age and poverty filters are applied to your tables, SHADAC recommends using 3-year estimates.

Search

Tables

Choose Your Data & Filters