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WASHINGTON, D.C. — According to Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) data in Poverty in the United States: 2024, just released by the U.S. Census Bureau, 43.69 million (12.9 percent) people lived in poverty in 2024, a slight increase over the previous year (42.8 million or 12.9 percent). The report also noted that 1 in 7 children (9.744 million) lived in poverty in 2024.
The same research showed that in 2024, 9.223 million people aged 65 or older lived in poverty in America, an 0.8% increase over the number (8.384 million) in 2023.
At the same time, the Census Bureau found in Income in the United States: 2024 that the wealthiest 20 percent of Americans obtained 52 percent of the nation’s income (with the wealthiest five percent obtaining nearly a quarter of the national income), while the lowest-income 20 percent of Americans obtained only three percent of the nation’s income. That gave America an inequality of wealth score, as measured by the Gini index, of .488, far higher than any Western industrialized nation.
In response, Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America, a nationwide, non-partisan, nonprofit organization, said:
“Given that poverty data is often the ‘canary in the coalmine,’ this data is an early indication of a recession and another indication of the slowing U.S. economy. This data should be a wake-up call for federal elected officials on the need to reverse the cruel and economically harmful cuts to domestic food aid and health care. We are at the brink of the greatest American hunger crisis since the Great Depression. United States government officials at every level must take action, raise wages, and strengthen the food safety net. Moreover, the inequality of wealth data demonstrates why it’s so vital that America must have a new national commitment to economic opportunity and mobility. Policy makers at the national, state, and local levels must take comprehensive measures to ensure that our economy works for everybody.”
Read the report from the Census Bureau, Poverty in the United States: 2024 https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2025/demo/p60-287.html
Read the report from the Census Bureau, Income in the United States: 2024 https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2025/demo/p60-286.html
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