This paper addresses recent developments regarding the publication of Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) estimates for the United States. On July 17, 2026, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) corrected the SPM historical poverty threshold series from 2019 to 2024 due to errors in the imputations of in-kind benefits in the thresholds. The corrected threshold series incorporates fixes to this code and rebases the threshold to be 82% of median expenditures rather than 83%. The corrected methodology yields overall SPM poverty rates which are lower than estimates published in Shrider and Bijou (2025) for 2019 to 2023 by 0.1 to 0.3 percentage points and marginally higher (12.9% to 13.0%) in 2024. Importantly, there are no meaningful differences between previously published estimates and the corrected series, nor is the trend meaningfully altered.  

The Census Bureau has reviewed this data product to ensure appropriate access, use, and disclosure avoidance protection of the confidential source data used to produce this product (Data Management System (DMS) number: P-7534374), Disclosure Review Board (DRB) approval number: CBDRB-FY26-0320).