For Immediate Release: Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Contact: Phoebe Silag or Karen Conner, news@epi.org 202-775-8810

While 14.3% of all Americans were living in poverty last year, a record 6.3% were in so-called deep poverty, earning less than half the official poverty threshold, or subsistence rate, according to the new data on poverty released last week by the Census Bureau. Today’s Snapshot tracks the share of the American population below half the poverty line over time. The current level is the highest seen since the Census Bureau started keeping records in 1975.