On September 15, 2026, the U.S. Census Bureau released Poverty in the United States: 2025, an annual report presenting estimates of poverty using the official poverty measure and the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM). The report shows that the 2025 SPM rate was 13.1 percent, not statistically different from the 2024 rate. A primary reason for these results is the difference in how poverty thresholds—or the definition of basic need —are updated each year. This paper compares 2024 and 2025 SPM rates using a fixed standard of living, demonstrating the effect of price adjustments to the SPM’s basic needs bundle of goods on poverty rates. Overall, if SPM thresholds had been adjusted only for differences in prices, poverty would have declined between 2024 and 2025 instead of remaining flat. This is true both for overall rates and for select demographic groups between 2024 and 2025.