Table 7.1
Comparison of poverty measures
| Official poverty measure | Supplemental Poverty Measure | |
|---|---|---|
| Threshold | Equal to three times the cost of “Economy Food Plan” | Equal to the 33rd percentile of expenditures on food, clothing, shelter, and utilities of consumer units with exactly two children, multiplied by 1.2 |
| Adjusted annually by change in the Consumer Price Index | Adjusted annually by the five-year moving average of expenditures on food, clothing, shelter, and utilities | |
| No geographic adjustment | Geographic adjustments for differences in housing costs | |
| Resources included as income | Total family pretax cash income | Total family after-tax income (including credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit) |
| Includes value of near-cash benefits, such as SNAP, National School Lunch Program, WIC, housing subsidies, and LIHEAP | ||
| Subtracts work-related expenses, such as child care and transportation costs | ||
| Subtracts medical out-of-pocket expenses and child support paid |
Note: SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; WIC is the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children; and LIHEAP is the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
Source: Authors' analysis of Short (2011)
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