“Tables of Alternative Poverty Estimates: 2008”

Nearly one in six Americans, or 15.8 percent, were living in poverty in 2008, according to Census Bureau figures calculated using an alternative measure recommended by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). These figures are higher than the 13.2 percent calculated under the official federal poverty measure, released in September 2009. The new figures provide data by select demographic characteristics, such as age, race and region.

View the data.