U.S. poverty rate: Nearly one in seven people live in poverty

• 15.1% the poverty rate in the U.S. back in 1993 — the highest level in 20 years
• 11.3% the poverty rate in 2000 — the lowest it’s been in the modern era
• 15.1% the poverty rate in 2010 — MATCHING the 1993 high source

» What these numbers mean: The current poverty line in the U.S. is $22,314a year for a family of four and $11,139 for an individual, so anyone making less than that falls into these numbers. To put this into hard numbers, that means 46.2 million people are living below the poverty line. As for the middle class, their median income is $49,445 — actually down just a little bit from the year before. (Editor’s note: We just clarified the poverty line numbers.)

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