The Price Of Poverty: What it means to be poor in America

WAMU 88.5 | By Haili Blassingame

Published October 14, 2022 at 11:52 AM EDT

Residents receive food at the St. Helena Pantry in the Bronx in New York City.

In 2020, more than 37 million Americans lived in poverty according to new data from the U.S Census Bureau. That’s 3.3 million more than in 2019.

But this number doesn’t include those who are above the poverty line and struggling to make a living.

According to the Poor People’s Campaign, once low-income families are accounted for, that number is closer to 140 million Americans.

What does it actually mean to be poor? How do people fall below the poverty line? And why is it so hard to get above it? We carve out time to talk about poverty in America in our series “The Price of Poverty.”