# US poverty rate by president, 1989–2024

Source page: https://govargus.com/indicators/poverty

Estimated share of people of all ages living in poverty (Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates). Starts in 1989.

Latest: 12.1% (2024).
Source: Census Bureau (SAIPE), via FRED PPAAUS00000A156NCEN (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/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

Each row is the value at the last full period before inauguration and at the end of the term, with the yearly rate of change, next to the rate of change over the four years before the term (the trend it inherited). A term's first year mostly reflects the previous administration's policies, and Congress, the Federal Reserve and the world economy move these numbers too. Govargus describes; it does not score presidents.

| President | Term | During term | 4 years before |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Donald Trump (2nd term) | 2025–present | 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 |

## Events that bear on this indicator

- Aug 10, 1993, law: Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993. Raises the top income tax rate to 39.6% and expands the EITC; passed without a single Republican vote.
- Aug 22, 1996, law: Welfare reform (PRWORA). Replaces AFDC with time-limited TANF block grants and adds work requirements.
- Mar 23, 2010, law: Affordable Care Act signed. Medicaid expansion, subsidized insurance marketplaces and an individual mandate; main coverage provisions start in 2014.
- Mar 27, 2020, law: CARES Act. About $2.2 trillion in relief: stimulus checks, expanded unemployment benefits and the Paycheck Protection Program.
- Mar 11, 2021, law: American Rescue Plan. About $1.9 trillion in relief, including a temporarily expanded child tax credit and larger ACA premium subsidies.
- Jul 4, 2025, law: One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Makes the 2017 individual tax cuts permanent, adds new deductions and cuts Medicaid and SNAP spending.