A poor measure of need: Researchers urge update to decades-old federal poverty line
“Timothy Smeeding began his research career in public affairs and economics by sitting across from the woman who created the official poverty measure of the United States – a standard he’s worked most of his career to change.
The stakes are high. The poverty line directs tens of billions of dollars annually in aid to the nation’s poorest people – for public housing, subsidized rent, food stamps, free school lunches, college grants, Medicaid and federal grants to nonprofits that serve low income communities.
But the equation used to set the poverty line hasn’t been updated since the 1960s. Consider 1967: The annual median income was $7,143; the median rent was less than $100 per month; and a gallon of gas cost 31 cents. A year at the University of Pennsylvania was less than $2,000.”