COVID-19 relief payments enacted by Congress ultimately helped the country report an overall drop in poverty last year, fresh U.S. Census data shows.
The official poverty rate for 2020 has been determined to be 11.4 percent, meaning a single percentage point increase from the 2019 rate of 10.5. While this marks the first increase in this poverty statistic after five consecutive declines, a closer look—i.e. the Supplemental Poverty Measure 2020 report—paints a slightly different picture.
The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) takes into account “government programs designed to assist low-income families and individuals that are not included in the official poverty measure.” Put another way, the SPM reflects post-tax income, including stimulus payments.
The SPM rate for 2020 was 9.1. percent, which is about 2.6 points lower than what was reported for 2019. This potentially means that, as pointed out by the Washington Post, millions of people were lifted out of hardship in 2020.
The U.S. Census Bureau also said on Tuesday that the median household income was $67,521 in 2020, which marked a decrease of just under 3 percent from 2019 median. “This is the first statistically significant decline in median household income since 2011,” the bureau said in a press release.
Other findings highlighted on Tuesday include the percentage of people with health insurance coverage for all or part of the year (91.4 percent), the lack of a statistically significant change in median household income for those in the Northeast, and more.
Not reflected in the latest Census reports, of course, is the American Rescue Plan that was pushed through earlier this year under the Biden administration. These reports do, however, offer a good counterargument to critics who argue that such relief programs are not effective.
