But when sociologist Donald Flemandez applied a '50% of median income’ poverty line to contemporary census data he found that the percentage of the population living below this level was 32%.' Again, the idea that poverty should be defined in relative terms was not intended, and Orshansky drew the line at a fixed number of dollars. But Census Bureau data for 1963 show that the ’Orshansky line’ of $3000 for a family or $1500 for an individual corresponded to approximately 50% of median US income at the time.