Poverty guidelines are a simplified version of poverty thresholds and are issued by the Department of Health and Human Services to determine financial eligibility for certain federal programs. For more information on these guidelines, see the 2011 Federal Poverty Guidelines.
How many people were poor in 2010?
In 2010, 15.1 percent of all persons lived in poverty. The poverty rate in 2010 was the highest poverty rate since 1993. Between 1993 and 2000, the poverty rate fell each year, reaching 11.3 percent in 2000.
How has poverty changed over time?
In the late 1950s, the poverty rate for all Americans was 22.4 percent, or 39.5 million individuals.
These numbers declined steadily throughout the 1960s, reaching a low of 11.1 percent, or 22.9 million individuals, in 1973.
Over the next decade, the poverty rate fluctuated between 11.1 and 12.6 percent, but it began to rise steadily again in 1980.
By 1983, the number of poor individuals had risen to 35.3 million individuals, or 15.2 percent.
For the next ten years, the poverty rate remained above 12.8 percent, increasing to 15.1 percent, or 39.3 million individuals, by 1993.
The rate declined for the remainder of the decade, to 11.3 percent by 2000. From 2000 to 2004 it rose each year to 12.7 in 2004.
Since the late 1960s, the poverty rate for people over 65 has fallen dramatically. The poverty rate for children has historically been somewhat higher than the overall poverty rate. The poverty rate for people in households headed by single women is significantly higher than the overall poverty rate.
How does poverty differ across subgroups?
The poverty rate for all persons masks considerable variation between racial/ethnic subgroups. Poverty rates for blacks and Hispanics greatly exceed the national average. In 2010, 27.4 percent of blacks and 26.6 percent of Hispanics were poor, compared to 9.9 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 12.1 percent of Asians.
Poverty rates are highest for families headed by single women, particularly if they are black or Hispanic.
In 2010, 31.6 percent of households headed by single women were poor, while 15.8 percent of households headed by single men and 6.2 percent of married-couple households lived in poverty.
There are also differences between native-born and foreign-born residents. In 2010, 19.9 percent of foreign-born residents lived in poverty, compared to 14.4 percent of residents born in the United States. Foreign-born, non-citizens had an even higher incidence of poverty, at a rate of 26.7 percent.
How many children live in poverty?
[3]
Children represent a disproportionate share of the poor in the United States; they are 24 percent of the total population, but 36 percent of the poor population. In 2010, 16.4 million children, or 22.0 percent, were poor. The poverty rate for children also varies substantially by race and Hispanic origin, as shown in the table below[4].
Children Under 18 Living in Poverty, 2010
|
Category |
Number (in thousands)
|
Percent
|
All children under 18 |
16, 401
|
22.0
|
White only, non-Hispanic |
5,002
|
12.4
|
Black |
4,817
|
38.2
|
Hispanic |
6,110
|
35.0
|
Asian |
547
|
13.6
|
SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010, Report P60, n. 238, Table B-2, pp. 68-73.
How does the poverty rate vary under alternative definitions?
The official poverty measure has been criticized for not accounting for several factors that can affect a family’s economic well-being and for not having been updated, except for inflation, for four decades.
For example, while cash benefits from government assistance programs are included in a family’s income when calculating the official poverty measure, benefits received in-kind such as food stamps, Medicare or Medicaid, employer provided health insurance, housing subsidies, and other social services are excluded. Taxes that families pay and tax credits they receive such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) do not enter into the official poverty determination.
Additionally, the threshold value a family must earn to escape poverty was developed in the 1960s by combining emergency food budget data from the US Department of Agriculture with an estimate of what fraction of income families spend on food. Although the thresholds are adjusted each year for inflation, some analysts believe that these numbers no longer accurately reflect the minimal resources a family requires.
Since 1979, the Census Bureau has published a variety of experimental poverty measures using expanded definitions of income and alternative methods to account for inflation.[5] These alternative measures tend to show lower levels of poverty than the official measure in any year, but the timing of increases and decreases in the poverty rate is very similar across measures. This similarity suggests that, despite the criticism it receives, the official poverty measure provides a reliable indicator of changes in the poverty rate from year to year.
In addition to the Census Bureau’s alternatives, a 1995 panel appointed by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) suggested a series of poverty measures based on alternative definitions of both income and needs (the amount of resources a family needs to escape poverty).[6] The income measures consider taxes paid, tax credits received, some noncash transfers, and deduct medical expenses and work expenses such as childcare and transportation costs. The needs thresholds are derived from a typical family’s spending on food, clothing, shelter and utilities and some measures incorporate geographic differences in cost-of-living.
These alternative definitions tend to show higher levels of overall poverty than the official measures in any year, although the difference is usually less than one percentage point. The incidence of poverty across groups also differs under these measures. Single-mother households fare somewhat better and married couples tend to have somewhat higher rates of poverty than when measured using the official methodology.
This discrepancy likely results from the differing level of noncash benefits received by these two types of families.
Please do not buy META BANK PREPAID CARDS for your children as a way to help your child to manage their own money while away at college…
…. far too many college students indicate that they can’t access their own money to even be able to pay their rent on time….
….It is META BANK that has put a hold on their cash money for META BANK’s own liquidity at that time and place. META BANK has been known to place the blame on any one and everyone but where it belongs on them!!!!
PROTECT YOURSELVES: DON’T USE ANY KIND OF META BANK PRODUCT
Please note that META BANK often operates using different names
META BANK’s PREPAID CARD is not a solution for
families living in poverty
and yet META BANK actively seeks out the underbanked which refers to those people who basically live from pay check to pay check as their targeted clientele.
Here are some of META BANK’s explanations and a discussion of my experience using a META BANK PREPAID CARD:
What are the features of my MetaBank ETA Visa Card?
NO TRANSACTION FEES / NO HIDDEN FEES [ Read on, this is misleading!!!]
Just a $3.00 monthly maintenance fee
[META BANK requires their customers to give them cash money ahead of time and to place it on the METABANK PREPAID CARD.
This is an interest free loan to META BANK from their customer base, but META BANK charges their customers a $3.00 maintenance fee.
This makes no sense to me why anyone would want such a prepaid card.
Why not pay in cash instead?
Why hand over cash money to META BANK for them to get free interest from holding it for you and charging you a fee to hold it as well? This is a scam based on the thought process of a company that is nothing more than a collections agency….
…. There is nothing worthy of praise about the way that META BANK operates and they have failed to convince me that they ever intend to provide real customer service because either they don’t care or they are far too greedy to see the truth. META BANK was created on a principle that lying to customers and giving their customers the run around and awful service is the only way to do business…..
…..Ask them for specific plans that actually address the real needs of the underbanked and thus far they have only been able to give empty phrases saying that it is a good idea to serve the underbanked…. That is because META BANK makes far more on interest rates and fees by serving the underbanked….
…..Stay away from META BANK if you want to protect yourself from being scammed]
RELOAD RATES
FREE direct deposit
FREE ReadySTATION reloads
FREE* BALANCE CHECKS
You can check your balance for FREE whenever you want, as often as you want, on our website, at a ReadySTATION or by signing up for Alerts.
FREE* CUSTOMER SERVICE
4 FREE Live Agent Customer Service calls per month; $3 each additional
4 FREE Automated Phone Service calls per month; $0.25 each additional
[If METABANK makes a mistake or gives you false information, but takes your cash money anyway, you have to pay for all phone calls to them after the first 4 free live Agent Customer Service Calls.
META BANK put me on hold and passed me from one agent to another.
They lied to me. First they took $5,000.00 in cash money and kept it from me and then they tried to blame me for why my card wasn’t and couldn’t be re-loaded.
Once you give money to META BANK, they have your money and all control of your cash money. If they scammed me and so many other people, why would you think they would treat you any better???]
FREE* CASH WITHDRAWALS
When you ask for cash back at point-of-sale. Only $1.95 at the ATM.
[ This isn’t simpler. Pay using cash money to make your life simpler!!!!
Prepaid cards can be spent like cash if stolen so there are absolutely no benefits to consumers in using such cards created by META BANK.]
*While this feature is available for free, certain other transaction fees and costs, terms, and conditions are associated with the use of this Card, See the cardholder agreement for more details.
[META BANK retains the right to change their rules and policies at any time and without notice; this creates an impossible situation for consumers.
First, META BANK gets your cash money and then they call all the shots, make all the rules and you, as their customer become their personal income producing source when you can least afford it. META BANK isn’t addressing the needs of those who are living in poverty nor the needs of those who are living from pay check to pay check.
META BANK is only out to make money for themselves… META BANK doesn’t have any intention of improving the quality of life for their customer base.
Their customer base is only a source of income for META BANK.
Because META BANK seeks out the underbanked, they rationalize that they can and should charge the underbanked at a higher interest rate because they are a riskier bet for META BANK…
The fees listed above are ludicrous. All customers would be far better off paying cash and completely avoiding META BANK and their practices completely.]
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What are the Cardholder Fees for my card account?
To review the fees associated with the card, click here to be directed to the Cardholder Fees page. [ Directed to more of the fine print on another page may sound fair, but in reality a single parent who must be and do everything for the family doesn’t have time to study the fine print. This too is ludicrous and down right mean.]
How does my card differ from a traditional Credit Card?
Your card is a prepaid card that you can use anywhere Visa debit cards are accepted worldwide, including ATMs. The MetaBank ETA Visa Prepaid Card works similar to a debit card, except that your card does not carry a credit line, you will not be charged interest, or late fees, and you cannot get into debt by using your card. [If you held on to your own cash money, you would have access to it when you need it. META BANK keeps consumer’s cash money from them when they need it the most. This is the biggest complaint made by META BANK customers over a period of years!!!]
You pay as you go by pre-paying the amount you wish to spend, plus additional usage fees.[If you simply kept your own cash money, you would have any usage fees and you would know exactly how much money you have to spend at all times…. no surprises.]
Certain exclusions or conditions may apply.[Now you must read the fine print and it is pages and pages of verbiage.] Consult the Cardholder Agreement and these Frequently Asked Questions for information on how to get the most from your card.
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Does buying or using my card build my credit rating?
No. The card is not a credit card. It is a prepaid card. Because no credit is granted and no payments are required, it does not build credit history.
[ Elsewhere, META BANK suggests that payroll checks or government checks that are directly deposited into an accompanying checking account at META BANK can help customers to improve their credit score. At that point, META BANK indicates that they will report to the credit companies about this customer.
Then META BANK suggests that their underbanked customer simply should use the prepaid debit card often…. The problem is that META BANK at that point has complete control of all of their customer’s meagre income….
If META BANK has kept other customer’s from having access to their own money when they have needed it the most, what makes you think that giving your money to META BANK will work any better for you than it did for others????
META BANK simply wants your money as an interest free loan to them by the most economically fragile citizens.
For META BANK it becomes an economy of scale; they need lots and lots of underbanked customers.
Oh, META BANK may say they seek out to serve the underbanked, but it is for their own benefit and financial gain. The proof is in the pudding, as they say; META BANK has scammed far too many of its customer base to be considered credible.]
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What is the life of my card (Expiration Date)?
Your card is able to be used until the expiration date printed on the front of your card. At the time of expiration, if your card has a balance, you will be mailed a new card to your card account address. If your card has a zero balance at expiration then it cannot be renewed or reloaded and you must sign up for a new card. [ Read the fine print here!!!]
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Are my funds safe and secure?
Yes. All money is secure in the banking system, except in the case of cardholder negligence.
[Consumers and former clients of META BANK indicate that META BANK always blames the customer for any problem that they may have encountered in using their card. Once META BANK has your money, they can say and do whatever they please; yes, this is immoral.
One traveler was told that he hadn’t used the card properly; the truth is that no merchants in Europe would accept the META BANK CARD.
And it should take a “rocket scientist” to be able to make the card work. Merchant after merchant kept refusing to take his META BANK PREPAID CARD.
The customer hadn’t done anything wrong, but META BANK REPRESENTATIVES had been instructed to say this to their customer base.
CARDHOLDER NEGLIGENCE is a term that META BANK uses and abuses so that they can hold their customer’s money, get free interest from their money and prevent their customer’s from being able to access any of their own money….
…. This is what makes the way that META BANK does business a scam. Please be forewarned and do not use META BANK’s products or services.
Your money will be kept from you by META BANK and in that sense it will be secure in their hands, but for their use and not yours.]
…..
©2012 MetaBank
The MetaBank ETA Visa Prepaid Card is issued by MetaBank™
GET YOUR FEDERAL PAYMENT FASTER WITH FREE* DIRECT DEPOSIT ON A METABANK ETA VISA® PREPAID CARD.
Simplify your life.
[ Oh, my!!!!
The META BANK CARD did just the opposite. IT COMPLICATES CONSUMER’S LIVES; IT IS AWFUL!!!!
META BANK Representatives lied to me as they kept my own cash money (META BANK will only accept cash or a direct deposit from your payroll) from me..
…All that I can do is to try to warn others so that what META BANK did to me will never happen again to another consumer…
…Paying using cash money is still simpler. Pay in person and ask for a written receipt… Perhaps this will take a little time, but once you work this into your routine, it will truly make your life simpler.
What META BANK offers benefits them and not you as their customer/consumer, but they must try to convince you that what they are offering is beneficial to you.
META BANK is basically a collections agency with a spin on it; you should know this so I am telling you this.
META BANK also excels at doing publicity, but only to a certain point.
What META BANK tells you is to gain your trust and confidence with false promises and misleading information.
Important facts and the real details that you need as a META BANK customer are left out or glossed over in such a way that you can be taken in very easily.
META BANK has never convinced me that they really understand what customer service is all about.
“Customer Loyalty” for them is one sided; you become like an economic slave to them.
“Customer Loyalty” as a term which most of us may believe is good service that would make it so we would choose to come back because we got excellent service isn’t what META BANK intends when they talk about Customer Loyalty….
… Please take serious note of this difference in meanings.
The moral underpinnings at META BANK simply don’t exist; the vocabulary and language used by META BANK is simply used to reel in copious numbers of customers for their own financial benefit…..
….I can’t trust META BANK at any level based on my own personal experience with them]
- No more check cashing hassles or fees [ Pay using cash money directly rather than having to hand over your cash money to META BANK.]
- Get text message** alerts to let you know when your money is available
[The concept of letting you know when your cash money is available is perplexing.
Had you simply held onto your own cash money, they you would know if you had it or not.
Text messages require that you have an operable cell phone…. If you are living from pay check to pay check, you may not always have a cell phone.]
[Is META BANK saying that your money is safe and secure for you as their customer or for them as the beneficiary of your interest free loan to them while they hold your cash money?
In my case, META BANK took my cash money and held it so that I could not access it for one full month.
They lied to me and tried to push the blame for what happened off onto me, my spouse and META BANK’s own partner company who originally sold the prepaid card to me…
…If you must pay a $3 per month fee and other fees to have this prepaid card, then it isn’t free so this is either a lie or an attempt to mislead you. Paying directly to vendors using cash money will actually make your life simpler.
META BANK doesn’t understand what customer service should be; they only want to get money for themselves… This card is no bargain nor any real deal for consumers… it is slick marketing!!!!
How many conflicting details will META BANK give you and which ones should you pay attention to at any given time?]
*While this feature is available for free, certain other transaction fees and costs, terms, and conditions are associated with the use of this Card, See the
cardholder agreement for more details.**Standard text message rates, fees and charges may apply.
All that I can do is try to warn other people, other consumers like me, that META BANK is not reputable. META BANK is not user friendly. META BANK will create a nightmare for you based on their past performance.META BANK’s CEOs should be making license plates some place under strict supervision because they fail to show that they have any understanding of what providing customer service is about. META BANK acts more like a loan shark toward all of their customers sooner or later. They will lie to you and push the blame for their own actions off onto innocent people ….
…. The best thing that you can do as a consumer/customer is DON’T DO BUSINESS WITH META BANK …. also don’t do business with their partner companies.
Yes, those partner companies have been wined and dined to get them to sign up with META BANK so that META BANK can get access to that partner company’s customer base which they will then abuse and misuse for their own gain.
META BANK doesn’t serve the general public.
META BANK bilks their customer base.