America Counts: Stories about Income & Poverty

America Counts Story

Fresh Insights on Income Mobility From 2005 to 2019

Mobility, Opportunity, and Volatility Statistics (MOVS) project shows income dynamics of working-age adults across socio-economic and geographic groups.

America Counts Story

Wealth by Race of Householder

Households with a Black householder were less likely than those with a White householder to have home equity, retirement accounts, stocks and mutual funds.

America Counts Story

Exploring Undercount of Young Children in 2020 Census by County

New experimental analysis and visualization shows a relationship between poverty and the undercount of young children.

America Counts Story

Bridge Collapse Could Affect Over a Million People in Baltimore Area

The Community Resilience Estimates show that 21.7% of residents in the combined areas of Baltimore city and County are considered socially vulnerable.

America Counts Story

How Does Diversity in Social Networks Impact Survey Response?

Census Bureau research shows that areas where people have more diverse social connections also have higher data quality in the American Community Survey.

America Counts Story

Nearly 327,000 in U.S. Lived in Emergency and Transitional Shelters

The American Community Survey 5-year estimates provides a demographic profile of the population experiencing homelessness who lived in shelters.

America Counts Story

Is the Gender Wage Gap the Same at Different Education Levels?

New data linking higher education attainment and wage records enables research showing that gender wage gap channels vary by education level.

America Counts Story

Income Inequality Linked to Social Vulnerability to Disasters

The Community Resilience Estimates Equity Supplement shows a connection between income inequality and social vulnerability to disasters.

America Counts Story

The Stories U.S. Census Bureau Data Told in 2023

A look at a year of significant transformation in the U.S. population, from growing diversity and aging to how and where we live and work.

America Counts Story

Education Does Not Resolve Gender Wage Gap

A new Census Bureau table package on men’s and women’s median annual earnings by detailed field of degree shows the gender pay gap in all fields of study.

America Counts Story

How County Poverty Rates Changed From 2013-2017 to 2018-2022

The poverty rate significantly decreased in more than one-third of U.S. counties, according to the recently released American Community Survey 5-year estimates.

America Counts Story

U.S. Poverty Rate Varies by Age Groups

The poverty rate for the nation’s oldest populations was lower than for the youngest but increased in 2022 while child poverty decreased.

America Counts Story

Most Parents Don’t Have Any Formal Child Care Arrangements

The Household Pulse Survey shows that 1 in 5 parents relied on a relative for child care.

America Counts Story

2022 Income Inequality Decreased for First Time Since 2007

U.S. Census Bureau income data released today show declines in real income at the middle and top of the income distribution from 2021 to 2022.

America Counts Story

Black Individuals Had Record Low Official Poverty Rate in 2022

New U.S. Census Bureau data show the official poverty rate for Black individuals and Black children hit record lows in 2022.

America Counts Story

Median Household Income After Taxes Fell 8.8% in 2022

The expiration of expansions to federal programs during COVID-19 resulted in lower post-tax household income and higher poverty rates.

America Counts Story

Supplemental Poverty Measure in 2022 Higher Than Pre-Pandemic Level

The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) that accounts for government assistance increased from 7.8% in 2021 to 12.4% in 2022.

America Counts Story

Same-Sex Married Couples Less Likely to Be Same Age, Race, Ethnicity

Survey data reveal patterns of social and economic similarity between same- and opposite-sex spouses.

America Counts Story

Almost a Quarter of U.S. Population Vulnerable to Rising Heat

Climate-focused data product finds that social factors contribute to low resilience to extreme heat exposure for almost 1 in 4 individuals in the United States.

America Counts Story

Owning or Renting the American Dream

In recognition of American Housing Month and National Homeownership Month, we explore housing data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

America Counts Story

U.S. Adults Provided $17.5 Billion in Support to Parents in 2020

Almost as many U.S. adults voluntarily provided financial support to parents as those who paid mandatory child support.

America Counts Story

How Socially Vulnerable Is Puerto Rico to Disasters?

All municipios and 87% of census tracts in Puerto Rico showed higher social vulnerability than the United States.

America Counts Story

¿Cuánta vulnerabilidad social ante desastres tiene Puerto Rico?

Todos los municipios y el 87 % de los sectores censales en Puerto Rico muestran una mayor vulnerabilidad social que los Estados Unidos.

America Counts Story

Persistent Poverty: Identifying Areas With Long-Term High Poverty

U.S. Census Bureau research introduces a proposed expanded definition of persistent poverty at subcounty levels.

America Counts Story

How Long Does It Take Renters to Find a Place?

The 2021 American Housing Survey shows that 58.5% of renters who moved between 2019 and 2021 found a new place to live in less than a month.

America Counts Story

Examining Equity in COVID-19 Stimulus Payments

New research by the Census Bureau, Treasury, and IRS examines variation in receipt of payments across race and ethnic groups.

America Counts Story

Opportunities for Marriage, Partnership Shape Women’s Family Incomes

White women were more likely than Black women of the same economic background to have access to more income from spouses and partners.

America Counts Story

Impact of the End of Extra SNAP Benefits

About 1 in 4 households in states that gave SNAP emergency benefits during the pandemic report not having enough to eat now that extra funding has ended.

America Counts Story

More People in All Race/Ethnic Groups Worked From Home 2019-2021

The number of White, Black, Asian and Hispanic home-based workers more than doubled.

America Counts Story

Coastal and Large Counties More Distressed Than Other U.S. Areas

Two government measures of communities’ distress, based on different social and economic factors, show which counties are most vulnerable when disasters hit.

America Counts Story

Low-Income Renters Spent Larger Share of Income on Rent in 2021

The percentage of household income spent on rent plus utilities increased from 2019 to 2021 and renters with the lowest annual income saw the largest spikes.

America Counts Story

How Have State Official Poverty Rates Changed Over 10 Years?

A new Census Bureau historical table shows that 40 states and the District of Columbia had lower official poverty rates in 2019-2021 than in 2009-2011.

America Counts Story

Volunteering in America: New U.S. Census Bureau, AmeriCorps Research

A Census Bureau and AmeriCorps survey provides the most comprehensive data on volunteering and civic engagement by state and within the largest 12 metro areas.

America Counts Story

Nearly One in Three Mississippians Eligible for Food Assistance

An updated visualization shows characteristics of those who receive or are eligible for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in counties in several states.

America Counts Story

The Stories U.S. Census Bureau Data Told in 2022

A look at some of the America Counts stories that revealed shifts in our population, from growing diversity and declining poverty to where and how we live.

America Counts Story

U.S. Poverty Rates Differ by Age and County

The South had the highest share of counties with child poverty rates of 40% or more, according to the 2017-2021 American Community Survey 5-year estimates.