The U.S. poverty rate fell for the second year in a row and, after years of slow economic recovery, it is back to pre-recession levels, the Census Bureau said in an annual report. The nationwide poverty rate for 2016 was 12.7 percent, down by 0.8 points from the previous year; the rural poverty rate – consistently above the urban rate – was 15.8 percent, down by 0.9 points.
“This is the first year since the most recent recession where the poverty rate was not (statistically) significantly higher than the pre-recession period,” said David Waddington, the Census Bureau division chief for social, economic and housing data. The government says 40.6 million people were in poverty, defined as income below $23,339 for a family of four in 2016, compared to 43.1 million the previous year.
Anti-hunger leader Jim Weill said the poverty report showed, “Federal and state governments need to be doing more to reduce poverty, not acting to undercut anti-poverty programs.” Lawmakers will begin work on the 2018 farm bill, which includes food stamps, in coming weeks. President Trump has proposed a 25 percent cut in food stamps and House Republicans are seeking large cuts. Food stamps are the largest U.S. anti-hunger program and account for three-fourths of farm bill spending.
“We need to increase efforts to bolster jobs and wages, as well as protect and strengthen our country’s safety net programs, including the federal nutrition programs,” said Weill, head of the Food Research and Action Center.
While median household income was up by $4,600 in two years, poverty “remains well above its levels in most other wealthy nations,” said Rob Greenstein of the think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Greeinstein said proposals to cut food stamps, tax credits and the Supplemental Security Program would increase poverty and hardship, moving the dial in the wrong direction. Instead, he said, the government should increase in the minimum wage and expand tax credits for the poor and increase access to affordable housing and child care, “which would enable more parents to work or to work more hours.”
A companion report from the Census Bureau showed the impact of federal programs in mitigating low income. The Supplemental Poverty Measure estimated that food food stamps lifted 3.6 million people from poverty. School lunches lifted 1.4 million youths and WIC lifted 264,000 people from poverty.
Roughly 6.9 million rural Americans were in poverty, a decline of 530,000 people from 2015, said the Census Bureau. Rural income traditionally trails urban earnings. The median U.S. household income was $59,039 in 2016, up for the second year in a row. In urban areas, median household income of $61,521 in 2016 was up by 2.5 percent from the previous year. In rural areas, median household income was $45,830, not statistically different than the $45,221 of 2015.
Rural Americans were slightly more likely to have no health insurance than city residents, 9.4 percent vs. 8.7 percent, said Census.