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Poverty in America: Then and Now

Poverty in America: Then and Now infographic summarizes the poverty rate in America and how education, minimum wage, and housing all contribute to the problem.

Poverty
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Poverty in America: Then and Now

Many things contribute to the poverty rate in America: education, minimum wage, and housing, just to name a few. The first reliable poverty rate was documented in 1959. How much have things changed since the 1960s?

Poverty Facts

  • Total number of Americans below the poverty line
  • 1960s: 39 million
  • Today: 46.5 million
  • Percentage of Americans below the poverty line
  • The 1960s: 22%
  • Today: 15%

Income

  • Median household income (3,4)
  • 1960s: $6,500 (2014 dollars: $51,524) (18)
  • Today: $51, 371
  • Income tax rates (mid-tier) (5)
  • 1960s: 23%
  • Today: 17%
  • Minimum wage (6)
  • 1960s: $1.29/hour (2014 dollars: $10.23/hour) (18)
  • Today: $7.25/hour
  • Unemployment rate (7)
  • 1960s: 5.5%
  • Today: 7.4%

Education

Literacy rates

  • 1960s: 97%
  • Today: 99%

High school completion (percentage of 25 or older population)

  • 1960s: 42%
  • Today: 80%

College completion (percentage of 25 or older population)

1960s: 8%

Today: 24%


Home Life

Average cost of a house

  • 1960s: $20,000 (2014 dollars: $158,536)
  • Today: $272,900

Average food costs

1960s

  • Bread, $0.21 (2014 dollars: $1.66)
  • Dozen eggs, $0.46 (2014 dollars: $3.65)

Today

  • Bread, $1.29
  • Dozen eggs, $1.69

Average gasoline costs

  • 1960s – $0.35/gallon (2014 dollars: $2.77/gallon)
  • Today – $3.64/gallon

Health care expenditures per capita

  • 1960s: $147 (2014 dollars: $1,165)
  • Today: $8,402

Marriage rates (of population 18 and older)

  • 1960s: 72%
  • Today: 51%

Government

Fixed poverty thresholds:

1960s

  • Individuals, $1,500 per year (2014 dollars: $11,890)
  • Families, $3,000 per year (2014 dollars: $23,780)

Today

  • Individuals, $11,670 per year
  • Families of four, $23,850 per year

Important legislation :

1960s

  • Economic Opportunity Act (1964)
  • Food Stamp Act (1964)
  • Medicaid (1965)
  • Amendments to Social Security (1965)

Today

  • American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (20)
  • Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) (renamed in 2008)
  • Affordable Care Act (2010)

Poverty

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  • Looking for Leaders: The Crisis in Social Work
  • Romanticizing Poverty
  • Smoke Without Fire
  • Suicide Notes
  • The Changing Demographics of the Welfare State
  • The Faces of Homelessness Today
  • The Social Impact Of Mixing Business & Medicine
  • The State of Children’s Health
  • The War Within: Sexual Abuse in the Military
  • Who Needs Social Workers?

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