The U.S. Census Bureau collects data and publishes estimates on income and poverty to evaluate national economic trends and to understand their effect on the well- being of households, families, and individuals.

The poverty thresholds follows the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Directive 14, a set of money income thresholds that vary by family size and composition to determine who is in poverty.

Several major household surveys and programs conducted by the Census Bureau collect income and poverty data. They include the American Community Survey (ACS), the Current Population Survey (CPS), the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) program, and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP).

For additional information go to data.census.gov and the Census Survey Explorer. For more background on each survey or program, the differences between them, and how to choose the right data source, see the Guidance for Data Users section of this topic site.

Income: Money income is defined as income received on a regular basis (exclusive of certain money receipts such as capital gains) before payments for personal income taxes, Social Security, union dues, Medicare deductions, etc.

Income Inequality: Income inequality refers to how evenly income or income growth is distributed across the population. The Gini index is a statistical measure of income inequality ranging from 0 to 1. A value of 0 represents perfect equality, and a value of 1 indicates total inequality.

Poverty: Following the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Statistical Policy Directive 14, the Census Bureau uses a set of money income thresholds that vary by family size and composition to determine who is in poverty. If a family's total income is less than the family's threshold, then that family and every individual in it is considered in poverty.

Small Area Income and Poverty: The Census Bureau, with support from other federal agencies, created the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) program to provide more current estimates of selected income and poverty statistics than those from the most recent decennial census.

Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM): For many years, the Census Bureau has estimated a number of experimental poverty measures based on recommendations of the 1995 NAS report (NAS-based measures).

Wealth: Household net worth or wealth is an important defining factor of economic well-being in the United States. In times of economic hardship, such as unemployment, illness, or divorce, a person’s or household’s financial assets (e.g., savings accounts) are an additional source of income to help pay expenses and bills.

Well-Being: Personal or household income is generally regarded as the single best measure of the degree to which people are "well off." However, other factors also contribute to people’s well-being.