U.S. Poverty

On Topic

Nearly 20 percent of America’s children–and 13 percent of all Americans–live in poverty. Although the nation has made some progress against poverty, particularly among the elderly and female-headed families, a great deal remains to be done to move people out of poverty and up the ladder towards the middle class.

Baby and mother in public housing in Queens

Reuters/Eric Thayer - A baby sits on his mother's lap in their apartment at a public housing facility in Queens, New York City

Blog Post

Shame and Teen Pregnancy

March 18, 2013, Richard V. Reeves

Richard Reeves discusses New York City's use of ads that cast shame on teen pregnancy, exploring three questions: does shame ever have a positive role in a liberal society, do official bodies have any business being in the shame game and can shame be legitimately attached to teen pregnancy in the hopes it will help to lower rates of its incidence.

Recent Activity

Refine by: Welfare | Children and Families | U.S. Economic Performance | U.S. Metro Areas

In the News

Often low- and moderate-income families need a way to cash their check, they need a way to pay their bills, they need a way to save for the future, and they’ve cobbled together an interesting mix of bank and non-bank services to do that that are often more expensive and more costly than they need to be.
February 18, 2013, Michael Barr, The Economist
In the News

It’s the biggest expansion of Medicaid in a long time, and the biggest ever in terms of adults covered. Although the federal government is on the hook for most of the cost, Medicaid on the whole is one of the biggest items in state budgets and the fastest growing. So there are some understandable concerns about the financial implications and how implementation would work.
January 28, 2013, Mark B. McClellan, The Associated Press
In the News

The number of people who are poor or near poor went from 81 million in 2000 to 107 million in 2010. This is like a quantum leap. It’s hard for me to understand why the nation’s decision makers don’t get up every day and recite that number every day when they’re looking in the mirror. We now have a third of our people who are poor or near poor.
January 23, 2013, Bruce Katz, msnbc.com
In the News

We're now having that frank public conversation about what do we want from government and how much do we want to pay for it.
October 28, 2012, Tracy Gordon, CNN
In the News

I think there is at least a hint that we have hit bottom in this post-recession malaise in the United States. And by that I mean we've not turned up, but we're going down at a slower pace, and we might see a little bit of the glimmer of the light at the end of the tunnel.
September 20, 2012, William H. Frey, National Public Radio
In the News

Earnings for middle and lower-wage workers have fallen or stagnated over time. So you can have a situation where jobs are being created ... but the types of jobs matter. If those are jobs that pay low wages, even if you're working full-time, that might not be enough to lift you above the poverty line.
September 20, 2012, Elizabeth Kneebone, 24/7 Wall St
In the News

We don't see very important neighborhood effects on those two outcomes that people have focused on. But the things that people had been focused on and worried about with neighborhoods aren't the full story. Helping poor families is about a lot more than just increasing their income.
September 20, 2012, Jens Ludwig, Wall Street Journal
In the News

We don’t have the welfare programs that we have had in the past. The need for individual giving is greater than it has been in modern memory.
August 19, 2012, Bruce Katz, The Chronicle of Philanthropy
In the News

The Great Recession raised poverty rates and reduced household incomes in the vast majority of metro areas. The deep downturn left relatively few places untouched.
July 27, 2012, Alan Berube and Elizabeth Kneebone, Economy in Crisis
Podcast

@ Brookings Podcast: Causes of and Solutions for U.S. Poverty's Continued Rise

June 22, 2012, Ron Haskins