Households
Poverty rate by president
Estimated share of people of all ages living in poverty (Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates). Starts in 1989.
12.1% latest, 2024
Source: Census Bureau (SAIPE), via FRED PPAAUS00000A156NCEN. Annual data, fetched Oct 19, 2026.
Since 1989, the poverty rate ranged from 11.3% in 2000 under Bill Clinton to 15.9% in 2011 under Barack Obama. Of the 5 completed terms with data, the poverty rate rose fastest under George W. Bush, at +0.24 pts/yr against −0.60 pts/yr in the four years before, and fell fastest under Donald Trump (1st term), at −0.52 pts/yr against −0.48 pts/yr in the four years before.
By presidential term
Poverty rate, term by term: every term lined up from inauguration on one chart.
Value at the last full period before inauguration and at the end of the term, with the yearly rate of change. The second column is the rate of change over the four years before the term: the trend they inherited. Remember the lag: a term's first year mostly reflects the previous one's policies.
| President | During term | 4 years before |
|---|---|---|
| Donald Trump (2nd term) 2025–now | no data | no data |
| Joe Biden 2021–2025 | 11.9% → 12.1% +0.05 pts/yr | −0.52 pts/yr |
| Donald Trump (1st term) 2017–2021 | 14.0% → 11.9% −0.52 pts/yr | −0.48 pts/yr |
| Barack Obama 2009–2017 | 13.2% → 14.0% +0.10 pts/yr | +0.13 pts/yr |
| George W. Bush 2001–2009 | 11.3% → 13.2% +0.24 pts/yr | −0.60 pts/yr |
| Bill Clinton 1993–2001 | 12.8% → 11.3% −0.14 pts/yr | — |
| George H. W. Bush 1989–1993 | no data | no data |
| Ronald Reagan 1981–1989 | no data | no data |
| Jimmy Carter 1977–1981 | no data | no data |
More households indicators
Events that bear on this indicator
- Jul 4, 2025 LawOne Big Beautiful Bill Act. Makes the 2017 individual tax cuts permanent, adds new deductions and cuts Medicaid and SNAP spending.
- Mar 11, 2021 LawAmerican Rescue Plan. About $1.9 trillion in relief, including a temporarily expanded child tax credit and larger ACA premium subsidies.
- Mar 27, 2020 LawCARES Act. About $2.2 trillion in relief: stimulus checks, expanded unemployment benefits and the Paycheck Protection Program.
- Mar 23, 2010 LawAffordable Care Act signed. Medicaid expansion, subsidized insurance marketplaces and an individual mandate; main coverage provisions start in 2014.
- Aug 22, 1996 LawWelfare reform (PRWORA). Replaces AFDC with time-limited TANF block grants and adds work requirements.
- Aug 10, 1993 LawOmnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993. Raises the top income tax rate to 39.6% and expands the EITC; passed without a single Republican vote.