The new 2025 poverty numbers released by the US Census Bureau in September 2026 are important on their own, but they are even more important relative to historical trends. Understanding historical trends in poverty means reckoning with decisions about how to best measure poverty over time. This databook presents trends in poverty for different age groups between 1967 and 2025 across three poverty measures, (1) the historical Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM), (2) anchored 2025 SPM, and (3) a fully relative poverty measure. We present estimates for: the total U.S. population; children; young adults (aged 18-24 and aged 25-24); working age adults (aged 18-64); and older adults. Together, this data serves as a resource for a more comprehensive understanding of long-term trends in poverty rates and the role of government policies and programs in reducing poverty over time.
Suggested Citation:
Ortiz, Rebecca, Sophie Collyer, Christopher Wimer, and Ryan Vinh. 2026. Databook: 2025 Poverty rates in historical perspective. New York: Center on Poverty and Social Policy, Columbia University.
Published on September 15, 2026