A homeless tent city
A child poses for the camera outside of their house
A family on their front porch steps
Poverty has been a persistent problem in America over the years. Yet, different demographics of American society have experienced poverty disproportionately and in different ways. This website aims to shed light on some of these demographics, exploring how various regions, ethnicities, and ages have been impoverished over the years through various graphs. We found this website important to make since poverty can often be an overlooked aspect of society if one does not interact with it on a daily basis. So, by providing straightforward visualizations of poverty data, we hope to make the realities of poverty more accessible to those who might otherwise not have insights into it. Some of the challenges we faced in creating this website were properly formatting the datafiles so that we could extract information from them, since they the data was originally stored in Excel files with complicated headers and groupings. As well, working with HTML to make a clean website took time as we both had not worked much with HTML previously. Despite of this, we found this project rewarding because we were able to visualize many aspects of poverty and bring to life comparisons and important realizations about poverty such that the general populace can be better connected to the realities of poverty.
This chloropleth displays the percentage of poverty by state over the years during COVID. As shown, practically every state's poverty rate increased, some more dramatically than others. By 2021, some had relatively recovered, though not back to their pre-COVID rates. Others, such as New Mexico and Arkansas, only continued to see their rates increase. Strangely, states like Mississippi decreased in poverty levels over the three years.
As shown, the general quality of life has greatly increased for the average American since the 1960's. Yet, spikes can be seen where recessions have occurred, such as the
1981–1982 recession, the Early 1990s recession, and the 2008 Great Recession. A small increase can be seen during the COVID epidemic, but those rates are comparatively some of the best in the
history of the United States.
Data began to be collected on different ethnicities at different times in history, as shown by the flat lines between 1959-1989. In recent decades, White and Asian populations have fared the best
at avoiding poverty. While originally far disporportionately the most impoverished, African Americans have had their rates lower to those comparable to Hispanic and Native American/Alaskan Native rates,
with Native American/Alaskan Natives having some of the worst rates in recent decades.
This pie chart describes the number of people in poverty by ethnicity. So, as shown by the chart, despite making up only 13% of the population, African Americans account for 19.8% of those in poverty, while Whites, despite being 57.8% of the population, barely account for over half of those in poverty. Hispanics, despite being only 18.7% of the population, account for almost a quarter of those in poverty. Native Americans/Alaskan Natives only comprise of 1.1% of the population yet more than triple that in their poverty rates, while Asians/Pacific Islanders have some of the lowest rates of poverty in the United States.
This bar graph displays the amount of people in poverty by age group in America over the years. As shown, ever since the 2008 Recession, those 65+ have become more impoverished over all, and have not been able to recover since, especially with the recent COVID epidemic. As well, ever since the 1981–1982 recession, those 18-64 have increased from previous rates of 14k or lower to around 15-20k, spiking during the 2008 Recession to over 25k.
Now we look at specific ethnicities and how their age groups have been affected by poverty over the years. Notable about White age groups is that those less than 18 fare significantly better than those
18-64. A trend that will emerge is that of more wealthy ethnicities having this greater disparity between under 18 and 18-64.
In stark contrast to the previous graph, those younger than 18 have rates much more in line to those 18-64. A steady increase for those older than 65 in rates over the years can also be seen.
Hispanics have shown a steady increase in overall poverty over the decades with few spikes or major decreases to show any sign of slowing down.
Again, the rates between those under 18 and those 18-64 are fairly similar, signaling greater rates of poverty in African American communities. African Americans uniquely hold a position where their graph
is very 'flat' and not increasing overtime as the population increases, as opposed to the other graphs which appear to steadily increase over the decades and go upwards.
Native Americans/Alaskan Natives show a very sporadic increase in poverty, as well as the signature closeness of under 18 and 18-64 rates for those most impoverished. The biggest spike from any of the graphs
during the 2008 Recession can be seen here, showing that the Recession hit Native Americans/Alaskan Natives far harder in comparison to other ethnicities.
Finally, the Asian populace, with their low poverty rates and overall wealth, show a wide margin between those younger than 18 and those 18-64. Interestingly, their older than 65 rates have been steadily
increasing and have recently surpassed the steadily decreasing below 18 rates, something unseen by any other ethnicity.
Through analyzing poverty in regions, ethnicities, and ages, a lot can be gathered about the disproportions within society as well as how economic recessions have damaged many for decades after their onset. The COVID epidemic greatly increased poverty rates for almost every state, producing a level of poverty which has not returned to its pre-COVID rates. While poverty rates have generally decreased over time and thus the general standard of living has increased in the United States, some ethnicities are significantly and disproportionately affected by poverty. Whites and Asians have the lowest poverty rates, while Hispanic, Black, and Native American/Alaskan Natives have fairly high and disproportionate rates of poverty, with Native Americans/Alaskan Natives having some of the highest rates in the United States. Those 65 and older are experiencing the highest rates of poverty in decades. Overall poverty rates can be traced back to recessions such as the 1980-1981 recession, as poverty rates have not returned to rates before that recession. Through comparing different age groups of various ethnicities, a clear trend can be found in the rates of poverty in those >18 and those 18-64 and how impoverished an ethnicity is.
With all of this in view, it is important to note and address the disparities that are clearly present between ethnicities in their rates of poverty. Attention should be brought to the long-lasting implications that economic recessions can have on society. As well, age is an important factor to consider when discussing poverty that might otherwise not be brought up as often.