The nation’s official poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1 percent, up from 14.3 percent in 2009 and the highest since 1993, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.
The report marks the third consecutive annual increase in the poverty rate. There were 46.2 million people in poverty in 2010, up from 43.6 million in 2009, the largest number in the 52 years for which poverty estimates have been published.
A family of four is officially classified as poor if its annual cash income, before taxes, is $22,314 or less. For a two-person household, the threshold is $14,218. The figures do not include any accumulated wealth or "noncash aid such as food stamps.
In 2010, the median household income declined, the poverty rate increased. Real median household income in the United States in 2010 was $49,445, a 2.3-percent decline from the 1009 median.
