Poverty by the Numbers

So far this week, we have talked about a lot of 'fluffy stuff.'  Not a lot of hard stats and data.  So, for all you data-heads out there, I am going to try to give you something to mull over.

This graph is one of the more poignant examples of wealth I have recently seen.  To get a better understanding of asset poverty, the top ten people might be ok or have something saved for a rainy day.  The bottom 90 would be in some serious trouble without a social safety net when an unexpected expense arises.

By race, there are more White, not Hispanic people living below the poverty line than Hispanic, Black, or Asian (according to both the 2010 and 2011 census data), however, statistically both Blacks and Hispanics are almost three times as likely to live in poverty than Whites.  How does that work?  There are currently more whites in the United States than the other groups.  Only 9.9% (2010) and 9.8% (2011) of Whites lived below the poverty line.  As opposed to: 27.4% (2010) and 27.6% (2011) of Blacks, 12.2% (2010) and 12.3% (2011) of Asians, 26.5% (2010) and 25.3% (2011) of Hispanics.

As The Line mentioned, approximately 1 in 4 children age six and younger live below the poverty line.  71% of households that receive SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) - food stamps- have children.  So, what does that mean?  Approximately $4/person/day for food.  If you haven't done this before, there is a great food stamp challenge program that gives you the opportunity to try to live for one week (or month if you are an over achiever) on that income.  I encourage you to monitor how this effects the kind of food you can afford, the amount of food, the nutrition content of that food, and the time it takes to prepare these meals.  Since so many low-income individuals work multiple jobs to try to make ends meet, or use public transportation which cuts into free time, would we actually have time to prepare meals with the limited food budget and limited time?  On the topic of time, feel free to take a gander at the SNAP/Benefit application for Oregon.

For another visual, let's say, I am a single person with a child making minimum wage.  My yearly income would be $13,920 (poverty line for two people is $15,130).  $786 of that would go to FICA.  My income would be low enough to qualify for food stamps,   hopefully the maximum two people, giving me and mini-me $56/week for food.  Let's assume, I am still proportionally spending the same amount on housing/utilities that I spend now, that would mean half of my income would go to housing.  So, $547/month.  That would probably not include utilities - an additional $100 if I wanted internet.  That leaves me with $5,367 or $447/month for everything else.  Where I live in Maryland, assuming I still don't have a car, I would spend approximately $300/month on transportation for me and my hypothetical child (even with a car, insurance, car payment, gas would likely be more than that). So, $147 for everything else for the month - clothes, shoes, health expenses, toilet paper, hygiene items, kid expenses, childcare, and anything else...

Hopefully, these numbers help us all to better see some of the challenges that come from living below the poverty line.  I know as I was calculating out the above scenario, I was floored how quickly the money disappeared.  For just me, I could probably make that work assuming nothing medical-wise occurred, but you factor in a second person and it quickly becomes miracle working.