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Income and Poverty /
Supplemental Poverty Measure

Supplemental Poverty Measure

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Within Supplemental Poverty Measure

About This Topic
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Supplemental Poverty Measure

An Interagency Technical Working Group on Developing a Supplemental Poverty Measure was formed in 2009 and charged with developing a set of initial starting points to permit the U.S. Census Bureau, in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Featured

Publication

Poverty in the United States: 2023

September 10, 2024

This report presents data on poverty in the United States based on information collected in the 2024 and earlier CPS ASEC.
Visualization

Supplemental Poverty Measure

November 14, 2024

Explore the impact of different programs or expenses on the Supplementary Poverty Measure during each year.
Infographic

How the U.S. Census Bureau Measures Poverty

June 2022

We measure poverty two ways every year. The official poverty measure is based on cash resources. The supplemental poverty measure includes noncash benefits.
Improvements to the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure

View research on potential changes to the SPM under consideration.

Publications

Publication

Poverty in the United States: 2023

September 10, 2024

This report presents data on poverty in the United States based on information collected in the 2024 and earlier CPS ASEC.
Publication

Poverty in the United States: 2022

September 12, 2023

This report presents data on poverty in the United States based on information collected in the 2023 and earlier CPS ASEC.
Publication

Poverty in the United States: 2021

September 13, 2022

This report presents data on poverty in the United States based on information collected in the 2022 and earlier CPS ASEC.

Tables

Table

ACS SPM State Tables 2009 to 2019 and 2021 to 2023

April 16, 2025

View and download tables on ACS SPM: 2009-2019, 2021-2023
Table

Poverty in the United States: 2023

September 10, 2024

These tables present data on poverty in the United States based on information collected in the 2023 and earlier CPS ASEC.
Table

Poverty in the United States: 2022

September 12, 2023

These tables present data on poverty in the United States based on information collected in the 2022 and earlier CPS ASEC.

Datasets

Dataset

ACS Supplemental Poverty Measures (SPM) Research Files

April 16, 2025

These research files enable researchers to create SPM estimates using public use ACS data.
Dataset

Health Inclusive Poverty Measure (HIPM) Research File

November 22, 2024

This file enables researchers to replicate estimates in Health Inclusive Poverty Measure in the United States: 2023 using the 2024 CPS ASEC Public Use File
Dataset

2019 Revised Supplemental Poverty Measure Research File

September 2021

These research files enable researchers to replicate the SPM estimates describe in SEHSD Working Paper #2021-17.

Working Papers

Working Paper

Evaluating the New Mortgage Questions in the CPS's 2010 ASEC

May 01, 2011

To evaluate the quality of new 2010 ASEC mortgage questions, this paper compares similar data collected in ACS and AHS by a number of selected characteristics.
Working Paper

The Inclusion of the Incarcerated Population in Income and Poverty Estimates in the ACS

June 2025

This paper examines the effect of including data on the incarcerated population in income and poverty estimates.
Working Paper

Technical Documentation of Intermediate Tables for Improved Imputation

January 2025

This technical documentation describes a new data release that will aid users of the CPS ASEC tax variables.

All Subtopics Within 'Income and Poverty'

Income

Census money income is defined as income received on a regular basis before payments for taxes, social security, etc. and does not reflect noncash benefits.
Income Inequality

Income inequality is the extent to which income is distributed unevenly among a population.
Poverty

If a family's total income is less than the official poverty threshold for a family of that size and composition, then they are considered to be in poverty.
Program Income and Public Assistance

Public assistance refers to assistance programs that provide either cash or in-kind benefits to individuals and families from any governmental entity.
Small Area Income & Poverty Estimates (SAIPE)

The Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) program provides more current estimates for the administration and allocation of federal programs and funds.
Supplemental Poverty Measure

In 2009, the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) created a Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) to replace previous experimental poverty measures.
Wealth and Asset Ownership

Household net worth or wealth is an important defining factor of economic well-being - it can become an additional source of income in hard times or retirement.
Well-Being

Factors that contribute to well-being include income, possession of consumer durables, housing and neighborhood conditions, and the meeting of basic needs.