Our Sputtering Economy By The Numbers: Poverty Edition

Last month, we detailed the dismal state of the nation's economy [1]. Now that the Census Bureau has released new poverty figures [2], we wanted to give you another snapshot of how Americans are faring more than two years after the recession.

Americans below the poverty line in 2010 [3]: 46.2 million

Official U.S. poverty rate in 2007 [4], before the recession: 12.5 percent

Poverty rate in 2009 [3]: 14.3 percent

Poverty rate in 2010 [3]: 15.1 percent

Last time the poverty level was this high [5]: 1993

Poverty line in 2010 [6]: $22,314 for a family of four, or $11,139 for an individual

Rough amount the poor are living on per week [7]: $200 or less

Poverty rate in American suburbs: 11.8 percent [8], the highest since 1967 [9]

Percentage of the population making less than half the poverty line [10] in 2010: 6.7 percent

Percentage of the population making less than half the poverty line in 2007, before the recession [10]: 5.2 percent

Poverty rate for white Americans in 2010 [8]: 13 percent

Poverty rate for African-Americans in 2010 [8]: 27.4 percent

Real median household income [11] in 2010: $49,445

Decline in median household income [11] since 2009: 2.3 percent

Decline in median household income since before the recession [11]: 6.4 percent

The last time median household incomes have been this low [5]: 1996

Real median household income in 1999 [5], in 2010 dollars: $53,252

Median income for full-time male workers in 2010 [12]: $47,715

Median income for full-time male workers in 1973 [12], in 2010 dollars: $49,065

Official unemployment rate in August 2011 [13]: 9.1 percent

Total unemployed people [13] in August: 14 million

People who were employed part-time for economic reasons in August 2011 [13]: 8.8 million

People not counted in the labor force who wanted work [13]: 2.6 million

Net jobs created in August 2011 [13]: 0

Long-term unemployed people [13] as of August 2011: 6 million

Unemployed workers per job opening as of July 2011: 4.34 (3.2 million openings [14] and 13.9 million unemployed people [15])

Uninsured Americans [16] in 2010: 49.9 million

Percentage of Americans without health insurance in 2010 [17]: 16.3 percent

Percentage of Americans without health insurance in 2007 [18], before the recession: 15.3 percent

Percentage of children who were uninsured in 2010 [16]: 9.8 percent

Percentage of children in poverty who were uninsured in 2010 [16]: 15.4 percent

Percentage of American households that had enough to eat throughout the year in 2007 [19]: 88.9 percent

Percentage of American households that had enough to eat throughout the year in 2010 [20]: 85.5 percent

Source