One Version of the [U.S.] Federal Poverty Measure
There are two slightly different versions of the federal poverty measure:
- the poverty thresholds; and
- the poverty guidelines.
The poverty thresholds are the original version of the federal poverty measure. They are updated each year by the Census Bureau (although they were originally developed by Mollie Orshansky of the Social Security Administration). The thresholds are used mainly for statistical purposes--for instance, preparing estimates of the number of Americans in poverty each year.
The poverty guidelines are the other version of the federal poverty measure. They are issued each year in the Federal Register by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The guidelines are a simplification of the poverty thresholds for administrative purposes--for instance, determining financial eligibility for certain federal programs. (The full text of the Federal Register notice with the 1996 guidelines is available here.
Size of 48 Contiguous Family Unit States and D.C. Alaska Hawaii 1 $ 7,740 $ 9,660 $ 8,910 2 10,360 12,940 11,920 3 12,980 16,220 14,930 4 15,600 19,500 17,940 5 18,220 22,780 20,950 6 20,840 26,060 23,960 7 23,460 29,340 26,970 8 26,080 32,620 29,980 For each additi- onal person, add 2,620 3,280 3,010 SOURCE: Federal Register, Vol. 61, No. 43, March 4, 1996, pp. 8286-8288.
(The separate poverty guidelines for Alaska and Hawaii reflect Office of Economic Opportunity administrative practice beginning in the 1966-1970 period. Note that the poverty thresholds-- the original version of the poverty measure-- have never have never had separate figures for Alaska and Hawaii.)
Programs using the guidelines (or percentage multiples of the guidelines--for instance, 130 percent of the guidelines) in determining eligibility include Head Start, the Food Stamp Program, the National School Lunch Program, and the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Note that in general, public assistance programs (Aid to Families with Dependent Children and Supplemental Security Income) do NOT use the poverty guidelines in determining eligibility.
The poverty guidelines (unlike the poverty thresholds) are designated by the year in which they are issued. For instance, the guidelines issued in March 1996 are designated as the 1996 poverty guidelines. However, the 1996 HHS poverty guidelines only reflect price changes through calendar year 1995; accordingly, they are approximately equal to the Census Bureau poverty thresholds for calendar year 1995. (The 1995 thresholds should be issued in final form in September or October 1996; a preliminary version of the 1995 thresholds is available now from the Census Bureau.)
The poverty guidelines are sometimes loosely referred to as the "federal poverty level," but that term is ambiguous, and should be avoided in situations, (e.g., legislative or administrative) where precision is important.
Poverty guidelines for recent years for the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia can be calculated by addition using the figures shown below:
Each First Additional (Four-Person Year Person Person Family) 1990 $6,280 $2,140 ($12,700) 1991 6,620 2,260 ( 13,400) 1992 6,810 2,380 ( 13,950) 1993 6,970 2,460 ( 14,350) 1994 7,360 2,480 ( 14,800) 1995 7,470 2,560 ( 15,150) 1996 7,740 2,620 ( 15,600)
Note that this simple calculation procedure does NOT reflect the procedure by which the poverty thresholds were originally developed or the procedure by which the poverty guidelines are calculated from the poverty thresholds each year.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
For information about how the poverty guidelines are used in a particular program, contact the federal (or other) office which is responsible for that program.
For general information about the poverty guidelines (but NOT for information about how they are used in a particular program), see Gordon M. Fisher, "Poverty Guidelines for 1992" [a background paper on the poverty guidelines], Social Security Bulletin, Vol. 55, No. 1, Spring 1992, pp. 43-46; or contact Gordon Fisher, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Room 438F, Humphrey Building, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201--telephone: (202)690-6141
For information about the number of persons in poverty or for general information about the Census Bureau (statistical) poverty thresholds, contact the Income, Poverty, and Labor Force Information Staff, HHES Division, Room 416, Iverson Mall, U.S. Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C. 20233--telephone: (301)763-8578; internet address: hhes-info@census.gov
For historical tables showing the poverty thresholds back to 1959 and the poverty guidelines back to 1965, see Tables 3.E1 (poverty thresholds) and 3.E8 (poverty guidelines) in the most recent Annual Statistical Supplement of the Social Security Bulletin.
For information about how Mollie Orshansky developed the poverty thresholds during the 1960's, see Gordon M. Fisher, "The Development and History of the Poverty Thresholds," Social Security Bulletin, Vol. 55, No. 4, Winter 1992, pp. 3-14. (For the 75-page unpublished paper from which this article was condensed, contact Gordon Fisher at the address given above.)
For historical information about unofficial poverty lines in the United States between 1904 and 1965, contact Gordon Fisher at the above address. (A 75-page paper and a 6-page summary are available.)
For historical information about the income elasticity of the poverty line--the tendency of poverty lines to rise in real terms over time as the real income of the general population rises--contact Gordon Fisher at the above address. (A 78-page paper and a 9-page summary are available; they assemble historical evidence from the U.S., Britain, Canada, and Australia.)