Business and Finance > Economy > Poverty and Income

People and Families in Poverty by Selected Characteristics, 2010 and 2009

The following table shows the percent and number of people living in poverty in the United States in 2009 and 2010. Data is broken up by race, income, region, age, nativity, and type of household.

Characteristic	2010		2009
Characteristic	Number (thousands)	Percent¹	Number (thousands)	Percent¹
INDIVIDUALS
Total	46,180	15.1%	43,569	14.3%
Family status
In families	33,007	13.2	31,197	12.5
Householder	9,221	11.7	8,792	11.1
Related children under 18	15,730	21.5	14,774	20.1
Related children under 6	6,343	25.3	5,983	23.8
In unrelated subfamilies	751	45.5	693	51.1
Reference person	274	42.6	253	48.7
Children under 18	459	49.8	423	56.6
Unrelated individual	12,422	22.9	11,678	22.0
Male	5,796	21.7	5,255	20.0
Female	6,626	24.1	6,424	24.0
Race² and Hispanic origin
White	31,650	31.0	29,830	12.3
Non-Hispanic	19,599	9.9	18,530	9.4
Black	10,675	27.4	9,944	25.8
Asian	1,729	12.1	1,746	12.5
Hispanic³	13,243	26.6	12,350	25.3
Age
Under 18	16,401	22.0	15,451	20.7
18–64	26,258	13.7	24,684	12.9
65 and over	3,520	9.0	3,433	8.9
Nativity
Native	38,568	14.4	36,407	13.7
Foreign born	7,162	19.0	6,150	16.5
Naturalized citizen	1,906	11.3	1,736	10.8
Not a citizen	5,425	25.1	4,724	21.3
Region
Northeast	6,987	12.8	6,650	12.2
Midwest	9,148	13.9	8,768	13.3
South	19,072	16.9	17,609	15.7
West	10,973	15.3	10,542	14.8
Work experience
All workers (16 years and older)	31,382	13.1	29,625	12.4
Worked full-time, year-round.	2,608	2.6	2,641	2.7
Not full-time, year-round	8,057	15.0	8,039	14.5
Did not work at least one week	20,717	23.9	18,944	22.7
FAMILIES
Total	8,792	11.1	9,221	11.7
Type of Family
Married couple	3,596	6.2	3,409	5.8
Female householder, no husband present	4,745	31.6	4,441	29.9
Male householder, no wife present	880	15.8	942	16.9