Newsroom Archive

     The Census Bureau has released alternative income and poverty estimates covering calendar year 2009, including breakdowns by age, sex and race.

     These estimates do not revise or replace the official 2009 income and poverty estimates released Sept. 16, 2010. The official estimate of the national poverty rate remains at 14.3 percent.

     The Census Bureau has released alternative measures of poverty for many years based on the recommendations of Congress and the National Academy of Sciences. The purpose of these alternate measures is to show the effect on income and poverty measures when factoring in a range of poverty thresholds and different assumptions about income sources (such as subsidized housing or free or reduced-price school lunches).