Deep poverty is usually defined as having income below 50% of the poverty threshold. In 2015, an estimated 19.4 million persons, close to half of all people in poverty (45.1%), were counted as living in deep poverty. As shown in the figure, fully one-third (14.5 million) of all people in poverty were children. Children were over-represented among people in poverty relative to the overall population—33.6% compared to 23.1%. People who were working age (18-64) made up the largest share of the population who were poor, but they were under-represented among people in poverty relative to the overall population (56.6% compared to 61.9%). Under-represented racial/ethnic groups were non-Hispanic whites and Asians. As illustrated in Figure 5 , children (under age 18), both poor and overall, are more racially and ethnically diverse than adults, especially the aged (age 65+). The figure shows that among children in the total population, more than 90% lived in families with at least one adult earner and a slight majority (50.3%) lived in families with two or more adult earners. Among children who were poor, two-thirds lived in families with one or more earners. Despite a relatively low poverty rate for children in married couple families in 2015, the large size of this population overall (children in married couple families accounted for two-thirds of all children) meant that a substantial number of children who were poor lived in this family type. Working-Age Adults

The majority of people in poverty in America are working-age adults (18-64 years old). In the overall population of working-age adults, the vast majority (76.2%) did have earnings from work in 2015. (For those not working in the overall population, a greater proportion reported being retired and a smaller proportion reported being ill or disabled.) The largest group (55.5%) of poor working-age adults in 2015 were those who obtained a high school diploma but no post-secondary educational credential. A majority of both groups lived in families, although family living arrangements were more prevalent in the overall population (77.9%) than among the poor (58.8%). Working-age adults who did not live in families were disproportionately poor in 2015; 41% of all working-age adults in poverty lived outside of a family. Aged Persons

Of the three age groups discussed in this report, aged adults are the least likely to be living below the poverty line. When considering all of these various forms of work-derived income, most aged adults (97.2%) in the total population lived in families with income derived from work: either past work where Social Security or pension income was earned, or the current work of the aged adult or a family member. In 2015, half (50.2%) of aged adults who were poor lived alone, which is a significantly higher rate than in the overall population of aged adults (28.7%).
This report provides a snapshot of the characteristics of the poor in the United States in 2015. It shows that people from families whose income falls below the federal poverty thresholds represent a diverse subset of the overall population.
There were 43 million people living below the federal poverty level in 2015, representing 13.5% of the total population. Nearly half (45.1%) of all people in poverty lived in deep poverty (with income below 50% of the poverty threshold). The largest share of people in poverty were non-Hispanic white (41.2%) but the majority were not. Almost all other racial and ethnic groups were over-represented among the poor, relative to their prevalence in the overall population. Similar to the overall population, children who were poor were more racially and ethnically diverse than adults who were poor, especially aged adults. A majority (55.9%) of poor people were women. Children (under age 18) were disproportionately represented among people in poverty, constituting fully one-third of this group. Most poor children (two-thirds) lived in families where there was at least one earner; however, only 10.5% lived in families with at least two earners. Conversely, in the overall population, half of all children lived in families with two earners. Most poor children lived in single parent homes, but one-third lived in married-couple families. Two-thirds of children in the overall population lived in married-couple families. The majority of people in poverty were working-age adults (age 18-64). While most (76.2%) working-age adults in the overall population were working in 2015, most (61.3%) working-age adults in poverty were not working in 2015. The most common reasons reported for non-work among those in poverty were illness or disability, the need to meet caretaking responsibilities, or being enrolled in school. Although most working-aged adults in poverty were not working, nearly 40% were working in 2015; 10.4% were working full-time, full-year. Most working-age adults in poverty lacked a post-secondary educational credential; 80.6% had a high school diploma or less, compared to 58.7% in the overall population. Fewer than 10% of people in poverty were aged (age 65 and older); since aged adults make up 14.9% of the overall population, this means they are underrepresented among people in poverty. The vast majority of aged adults in poverty either had, or lived in families that had, income from work or from retirement or other social insurance tied to prior work. Aged adults in poverty are far more likely to live alone than aged adults overall (50.2% compared to 28.7%).