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Lifting each out of poverty until there is one less

Who’s Poor in the US and Where Do They Live

About Poverty

The official poverty rate, as calculated by the Census Bureau, has fallen only modestly, from 19% in 1964 to 15% in 2012 (the most recent year available). But other analysts, citing shortcomings in the official poverty measure, focus on a supplemental measure (also produced by the Census Bureau) to argue that more progress has been made. A team of researchers from Columbia University, for example, calculated an “anchored” supplemental measure — essentially the 2012 measure carried back through time and adjusted for historical inflation — and found that it fell from about 26% in 1967 to 16% in 2012.

Read more from PEW RESEARCH CENTER

Poverty rates in Philadelphia

Philadelphia has the highest rate of deep poverty among all large cities in the US.

• Philadelphia's deep-poverty rate is 12.2 percent, or
• nearly 185,000 people, including about 60,000 children
•  That's almost twice the U.S. deep-poverty rate of 6.3 percent.

Read more about Philadelphia’s poverty:  Phila. Rates Highest Among  Top 10 Cities for Deep Poverty