Week 3 Assignment: Poverty Short Answer
Start Assignment
- Due Sunday by 11:59pm
- Points 100
- Submitting a media recording or a file upload
This assignment is to bring awareness of the magnitude of poverty locally and nationally.
- Students review the following websites:
- National Data: students review (This web page provides national averages for poverty and well-being and links to additional references, such as US Census Data, Kids Count Data, and Housing.)
- State Data: explore and economic insecurity in their state by choosing a variety of data indicators based on gender/age; ethnicity; income inequality ratio; unemployment; high school graduation rates, disconnected youth; higher education attainment; gender wage gap; children living apart from parents; teen birth rates; hunger and food insecurity; affordable housing, assets, and savings; unemployment insurance; and health insurance coverage.Report your findings from National Data and State poverty rates.
Basic Statistics
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 Rates
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
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%
Percentage of high school students who graduated on time at the end of the 2018-19 school year
Disconnected Youth: 12%
Percentage of youth ages 18 to 24 who were not in school or working in 2019
Higher Education Attainment Rate: 45.8%
Percentage of young adults ages 25 to 34 who had an associate’s degree or higher in 2019
Gender Wage Gap: 81.6 cents
Median earnings of full-time year-round working women compared to that of men in 2019
Unemployment Rate: 8.1%
Percentage of all workers who were unemployed in 2020
Unemployment Insurance Coverage: 77.6%
Percentage of unemployed workers who received unemployment insurance in 2020
Strengthening Families and Communities
Children Living Apart from Parents: 6
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%
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
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.
Lack of Health Insurance Coverage: 18.2%
Percentage of people under age 65 and below 138% of the poverty line who did not have health insurance at any time in 2019.
- 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 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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.APA
Poverty in the United States: Explore the Map
Use U.S. Census Bureau poverty data to explore more than a dozen topics that measure the health of the economy at the state and national levels.
Social determinants of health (SDOH) have a major impact on people’s health, well-being, and quality of life. Examples of SDOH include:
- Safe housing, transportation, and neighborhoods
- Racism, discrimination, and violence
- Education, job opportunities, and income
How Does Healthy People 2030 Address SDOH?
One of Healthy People 2030’s 5 overarching goals is specifically related to SDOH: “Create social, physical, and economic environments that promote attaining the full potential for health and well-being for all.”