US poverty rate fell to 10.2% in 2025, and child poverty hit a record low
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The official U.S. poverty rate fell 0.5 percentage points to 10.2 percent in 2025, the Census Bureau reported September 15. That left 34.5 million people below the poverty line. It was the third straight annual decline and the lowest rate the bureau has published since the series began in 1959, though the report notes the figure is not statistically different from the 10.5 percent recorded in 2019.
Two groups reached record lows. The poverty rate for children under 18 fell 1.0 point to 13.4 percent, the lowest in data going back to 1959. The rate for Hispanic Americans fell 1.2 points to 13.9 percent, the lowest since those estimates began in the early 1970s. Rates also declined for men, women, adults 18 to 64, people in female-householder families, and full-time, year-round workers.
The bureau's second measure was flat. The Supplemental Poverty Measure, which counts tax credits, food and housing aid, and out-of-pocket expenses like medical bills, held at 13.1 percent, statistically unchanged from 2024. The one group whose supplemental rate moved was adults without a high school diploma, which rose 2.0 points to 32.4 percent.
| Age group, 2025 | Official rate | Supplemental rate |
|---|---|---|
| All people | 10.2% | 13.1% |
| Under 18 | 13.4% | 13.4% |
| 18 to 64 | 9.2% | 12.3% |
| 65 and older | 9.8% | 15.4% |
Part of the difference comes from the way the two measures set the poverty line. The official threshold is adjusted for overall inflation. The supplemental measure is tied more closely to what families actually spend on food, clothing, housing, utilities, phone service, and internet, and it also accounts for differences in housing costs.
For a family of two adults and two children, the official poverty line rose from $31,812 in 2024 to $32,649 in 2025, an increase of 2.6%. The supplemental threshold for renters went from $37,231 to $41,701, up 12.0%. When housing and food costs rise faster than inflation overall, the two measures move further apart.
The biggest gap is among people 65 and older, at 5.6 percentage points and medical costs explain much of it. The supplemental measure subtracts out-of-pocket medical expenses from income, and in 2025 those costs pushed 7.7 million people into poverty. For older Americans, they raised the poverty rate by 3.8 points.
Social Security remained the largest antipoverty program. Without it, the report estimates, 28.8 million more people would have been in supplemental poverty, 20.9 million of them 65 or older. Refundable tax credits, the Earned Income Tax Credit and the refundable part of the Child Tax Credit, lifted 6.1 million people out of poverty, including 3.3 million children.
Poverty by state
The national survey behind the report is too small to rank states for a single year. The Census Bureau's American Community Survey, which pools five years of responses, is the source for that, and its latest release covers 2020 through 2024.
Louisiana and Mississippi tied for the highest poverty rate over that period at 18.9 percent, followed by New Mexico at 17.8 percent and West Virginia at 16.7 percent. New Hampshire had the lowest at 7.2 percent, then Utah at 8.5 percent and Minnesota at 9.3 percent.
Compared with the 2015 to 2019 survey, poverty rates fell in 46 states and the District of Columbia. Arizona dropped the most, from 15.1 percent to 12.5 percent, and Idaho fell from 13.1 percent to 10.6 percent. Hawaii, Maryland, Connecticut, and North Dakota edged up. California and Texas had the most people in poverty, about 4.7 million and 4.2 million.
The highest county rates are concentrated on tribal land in South Dakota. In Oglala Lakota County, which lies within the Pine Ridge Reservation, 57.6 percent of residents were below the poverty line, and in Todd County, home of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, the rate was 48.4 percent. Full lists are in the rankings of states and counties with the highest poverty rates.
Income by state is covered in median household income by state, and city-level poverty in the poorest cities in America. The bureau released its 2025 income and health insurance reports the same day.
Sources
National figures are from the U.S. Census Bureau report Poverty in the United States: 2025 (P60-290), by Christina Bijou and Emily A. Shrider, based on the 2026 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement. The margin of error on the official and supplemental rates is 0.3 percentage points, and the survey's weighted response rate was 61.3 percent. Supplemental thresholds for 2019 through 2024 were revised after the Bureau of Labor Statistics found errors in its threshold code, so earlier supplemental rates may not match past reports. The 2025 tax model did not include the new deductions for tip and overtime income. State and county poverty rates are from the 2015-2019 and 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates, which use a different survey and are not directly comparable to the national figures.
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What was the US poverty rate in 2025?
The official poverty rate was 10.2 percent in 2025, down 0.5 percentage points from 2024, with 34.5 million people in poverty, according to the Census Bureau. It was the third straight annual decline, though not statistically different from 2019's 10.5 percent.
Why is the Supplemental Poverty Measure higher than the official rate?
The supplemental measure subtracts taxes, work costs, and medical expenses and uses poverty lines based on recent spending on food, clothing, shelter, utilities, phone, and internet. Those lines rose faster than inflation, so the supplemental rate held at 13.1 percent while the official rate fell to 10.2 percent.
Which state has the highest poverty rate?
Louisiana and Mississippi tied for the highest poverty rate at 18.9 percent in the 2020-2024 American Community Survey, followed by New Mexico at 17.8 percent. New Hampshire had the lowest at 7.2 percent, then Utah at 8.5 percent.
