Metadata Information

Overview

Originator:
United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service
Title:
Poverty Area Measures
Abstract:
This data product provides poverty area measures for counties and census tracts across the 50 States and Washington DC. The measures include indicators of high poverty areas, extreme poverty areas, persistent poverty areas, and enduring poverty areas for Decennial Census years 1960–2000 and for American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year periods spanning 2007–11, 2015–19, and 2017–21. This product uses county-level data from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000 Decennial Censuses and American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year period estimates for 2007–11, 2015–19, and 2017–21. Data for census tracts include the same data sources and years except for 1960 (because of the limited number of defined census tracts in that year of data collection) and 2017–21. Poverty rates for census tracts in the years before 2007–11 are calculated using data from Geolytics’ Neighborhood Change Database. The Neighborhood Change Database normalizes Decennial Census data to 2010 census-tract geographies allowing for better comparisons of census tract poverty rates over time. USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) relies on poverty/population counts from these sources to derive poverty rates that are used to create the poverty area measures in this data product.
Time Period of Content Date:
1960 - 2021
Theme Keywords:
Data is available for US counties and census tracts
Contact Person Information:
Tracey Farrigan (tracey.farrigan@usda.gov) or Austin Sanders (austin.sanders@usda.gov)

Data Quality

Completeness:
Data are available for the United States. County-level data are not provided for Puerto Rico or the US territories. This data files uses Connecticut counties instead of the planning regions introduced in 2022.
Missing Data:
Data are not available for some counties and census tracts because of missing data in some measurement periods or if the poverty estimate is unreliable. A reliability index is calculated for each PctPoor derived using poverty count estimates and published margins of error from the 5-year American Community Survey data. If the poverty rate estimate has low reliability (=3) AND the upper (PctPoor + derived MOE) or lower (PctPoor - derived MOE) bounds of the MOE adjusted poverty rate would change the poverty status of the estimate (high = 20.0 percent or more; extreme = 40.0 percent or more) then the county/tract type is coded as "N/A". More information on the reliability index used can be found on the ESRI webpage in "An ESRI Whitepaper: The American Community Survey," published July 2018. For more information on calculating margins of error for estimates derived from ACS data, see Chapter 8 of "Understanding and Using American Community Survey Data: What All Data Users Need to Know," on the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census's website.
Lineage:
Data were downloaded from the Poverty Area Measures website on 2025-08-27.

Distribution

Publisher:
USDA Economic Research Service. Poverty Area Measures. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/poverty-area-measures.
Publication Date:
2023

Attributes

Column Type Label Description
COUNTY character County name NA
GEOID character FIPS code NA
STUSAB character State postal abbreviation NA
Region character Census region numeric code 1 = Northeast, 2 = Midwest, 3 = South, 4 = West
subreg3 character USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) subregions: 1 = Northeast and Great Lakes, 2 = Eastern Metropolitan Belt, 3 = Eastern and Interior Uplands, 4 = Corn Belt, 5 = Southeastern Coast, 6 = Southern Coastal Plain, 7 = Great Plains, 8 = Rio Grande and Southwest, 9 = West, Alaska and Hawaii
MetNonmet2023 character Metropolitan (metro) and nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) county code, 2023; no metropolitan code is assigned to counties that changed geography (Valdez-Cordova, AK and all counties in Connecticut) between the release of the 2015–19 ACS and the release of the 2023 OMB Metropolitan Statistical Areas (OMB Bulletin No. 23-01). 0 = nonmetro county , 1 = metro county
MetNonmet2013 character Metropolitan (metro) and nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) county code, 2013 0 = nonmetro county , 1 = metro county
Beale2013 character USDA, ERS 2010 Rural-Urban Continuum (Beale) Code 2013 (counties) 1 = counties in metro area of 1 million population or more, 2 = counties in metro area of 250,000 to 1 million population, 3 = counties in metro area of fewer than 250,000 population, 4 = urban population of 20,000 or more, adjacent to a metro area, 5 = urban population of 20,000 or more, not adjacent to a metro area, 6 = urban population of 2,500 to 19,999, adjacent to a metro area, 7 = urban population of 2,500 to 19,999, not adjacent to a metro area, 8 = completely rural or less than 2,500, adjacent to a metro area, 9 = completely rural or less than 2,500, not adjacent to a metro area
HiPov60 character Poverty Rate greater than or equal to 20.0 percent in 1960 (counties only) -1 = Not available (N/A), 0 = PctPoor60 < 20.0 percent, 1 = PctPoor60 >= 20.0 percent
HiPov70 character Poverty Rate greater than or equal to 20.0 percent in 1970 -1 = N/A, 0 = PctPoor70 < 20.0 percent, 1 = PctPoor70 >= 20.0 percent
HiPov80 character Poverty Rate greater than or equal to 20.0 percent in 1980 -1 = N/A, 0 = PctPoor80 < 20.0 percent, 1 = PctPoor80 >= 20.0 percent
HiPov90 character Poverty Rate greater than or equal to 20.0 percent in 1990 -1 = N/A, 0 = PctPoor90 < 20.0 percent, 1 = PctPoor90 >= 20.0 percent
HiPov00 character Poverty Rate greater than or equal to 20.0 percent in 2000 -1 = N/A, 0 = PctPoor00 < 20.0 percent, 1 = PctPoor00 >= 20.0 percent
HiPov0711 character Poverty Rate greater than or equal to 20.0 percent in 2007–11 ACS -1 = N/A, 0 = PctPoor0711 < 20.0 percent, 1 = PctPoor0711 >= 20.0 percent
HiPov1519 character Poverty Rate greater than or equal to 20.0 percent in 2015–19 ACS -1 = N/A, 0 = PctPoor1519 < 20.0 percent, 1 = PctPoor1519 >= 20.0 percent
HiPov1721 character Poverty Rate greater than or equal to 20.0 percent in 2017–21 ACS -1 = N/A, 0 = PctPoor1721 < 20.0 percent, 1 = PctPoor1721 >= 20.0 percent
ExtPov60 character Poverty Rate greater than or equal to 40.0 percent in 1960 (counties only) -1 = N/A, 0 = PctPoor60 < 40.0 percent, 1 = PctPoor60 >= 40.0 percent
ExtPov70 character Poverty Rate greater than or equal to 40.0 percent in 1970 -1 = N/A, 0 = PctPoor70 < 40.0 percent, 1 = PctPoor70 >= 40.0 percent
ExtPov80 character Poverty Rate greater than or equal to 40.0 percent in 1980 -1 = N/A, 0 = PctPoor80 < 40.0 percent, 1 = PctPoor80 >= 40.0 percent
ExtPov90 character Poverty Rate greater than or equal to 40.0 percent in 1990 -1 = N/A, 0 = PctPoor90 < 40.0 percent, 1 = PctPoor90 >= 40.0 percent
ExtPov00 character Poverty Rate greater than or equal to 40.0 percent in 2000 -1 = N/A, 0 = PctPoor00 < 40.0 percent, 1 = PctPoor00 >= 40.0 percent
ExtPov0711 character Poverty Rate greater than or equal to 40.0 percent in 2007–11 ACS -1 = N/A, 0 = PctPoor0711 < 40.0 percent, 1 = PctPoor0711 >= 40.0 percent
ExtPov1519 character Poverty Rate greater than or equal to 40.0 percent in 2015–19 ACS -1 = N/A, 0 = PctPoor1519 < 40.0 percent, 1 = PctPoor1519 >= 40.0 percent
ExtPov1721 character Poverty Rate greater than or equal to 40.0 percent in 2017–21 ACS -1 = N/A, 0 = PctPoor1721 < 40.0 percent, 1 = PctPoor1721 >= 40.0 percent
PerPov90 character Official ERS Measure: Persistent Poverty, 1990: poverty rate >= 20.0 percent in 1960, 1970, 1980, and 1990 (counties only). May not match previously published versions due to changes in geographic normalization procedures. -1 = N/A, 0 = poverty rate not >= 20.0 percent in 1960, 1970, 1980, and 1990, 1 = poverty rate >= 20.0 percent in 1960, 1970, 1980, and 1990
PerPov00 character Official ERS Measure: Persistent Poverty, 2000: poverty rate >= 20.0 percent in 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000. May not match previously published versions due to changes in geographic normalization procedures. -1 = N/A, 0 = poverty rate not >= 20.0 percent in 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000, 1 = poverty rate >= 20.0 percent in 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000
PerPov0711 character Official ERS Measure: Persistent Poverty, 2007–11: poverty rate >= 20.0 percent in 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2007–11. May not match previously published versions due to changes in geographic normalization procedures and application of reliability criteria. -1 = N/A, 0 = poverty rate not >= 20.0 percent in 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2007–11, 1 = poverty rate >= 20.0 percent in 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2007–11
PerPov1519 character Research Measure Only: Persistent Poverty, 2015–19: poverty rate >= 20.0 percent in 1990, 2000, 2007–11, and 2015–19. May not match previously published versions due to changes in geographic normalization procedures and application of reliability criteria. -1 = N/A, 0 = poverty rate not >= 20.0 percent in 1990, 2000, 2007–11, and 2015–19, 1 = poverty rate >= 20.0 percent in 1990, 2000, 2007–11, and 2015–19
PerPov1721 character Official ERS Measure: Persistent Poverty, 2017–21: poverty rate >= 20.0 percent in 1990, 2000, 2007–11, and 2017–21. May not match previously published versions due to changes in geographic normalization procedures and application of reliability criteria. -1 = N/A, 0 = poverty rate not >= 20.0 percent in 1990, 2000, 2007–11, and 2017–21, 1 = poverty rate >= 20.0 percent in 1990, 2000, 2007–11, and 2017–21
EndurePov0711 character Official ERS Measure: Enduring Poverty, 2007–11: poverty rate >= 20.0 percent for at least 5 consecutive time periods up-to and including 2007–11. There may be zero to few counties in category '1' given that the majority of counties with enduring poverty have consistently had high poverty going back to at least 1960; most will fall into category '2'. -1 = N/A, 0 = Poverty Rate not >=20.0 percent in 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2007–11, 1 = poverty rate >= 20.0 percent in 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2007–11; not >= 20.0 percent in 1960 (counties only, no 1960 census tract data), 2 = poverty rate >=20.0 percent in 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2007–11 (counties only, no 1960 census tract data)
EndurePov1519 character Research Measure Only: Enduring Poverty, 2015–19: poverty rate >= 20.0 percent for at least 5 consecutive time periods, up-to and including 2015–19. There may be zero to few counties in category '1' or '2' given that the majority of counties with enduring poverty have consistently had high poverty going back to at least 1960; most will fall into category '3'. There may be zero to few census tracts in category '1' given that the majority of census tracts with enduring poverty have consistently had high poverty going back to at least 1970 (no data for 1960); most will fall into category '2'. -1 = N/A, 0 = Poverty Rate not >=20.0 percent in 1980, 1990, 2000, 2007–11, and 2015–19, 1 = poverty rate >= 20.0 percent in 1980, 1990, 2000, 2007–11, and 2015–19; not >= 20.0 percent in 1970, 2 = poverty rate >= 20.0 percent in 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2007–11, and 2015–19; not >= 20.0 percent in 1960 (counties only, no 1960 census tract data), 3 = poverty rate >=20.0 percent in 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2007–11, and 2015–19 (counties only, no 1960 census tract data)
EndurePov1721 character Official ERS Measure: Enduring Poverty, 2017–21: poverty rate >= 20.0 percent for at least 5 consecutive time periods, up-to and including 2017–21. There may be zero to few counties in category '1' or '2' given that the majority of counties with enduring poverty have consistently had high poverty going back to at least 1960; most will fall into category '3'. There may be zero to few census tracts in category '1' given that the majority of census tracts with enduring poverty have consistently had high poverty going back to at least 1970 (no data for 1960); most will fall into category '2'. -1 = N/A, 0 = Poverty Rate not >=20.0 percent in 1980, 1990, 2000, 2007–11, and 2017–21, 1 = poverty rate >= 20.0 percent in 1980, 1990, 2000, 2007–11, and 2017–21; not >= 20.0 percent in 1970, 2 = poverty rate >= 20.0 percent in 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2007–11, and 2017–21; not >= 20.0 percent in 1960 (counties only, no 1960 census tract data), 3 = poverty rate >=20.0 percent in 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2007–11, and 2017–21 (counties only, no 1960 census tract data)