What does it mean to be poor in America? What would a family of 4 need to earn in order to be considered poor?

Answer 1

Poor is making enough money to not be able to apply for welfare. Poor is slipping through the cracks of the federal system for help. Poor is struggling to pay the bills and yet not having anything to show for it at the end. They keep raising the minimum wage which in turns raises prices for everybody else, including the poor. The price of gas is rising far too fast for the poor to keep up. How can the poor make it to their jobs when they can't even afford the gas to get there.
Childcare is a real concern for the working class. Your paycheck goes to paying the childcare worker, not you. Most working class women with kids end up staying at home because it costs more for childcare than what they would make at a minimum wage job. The deadbeat dads don't pay or pay enough to help out with this. If you are a single woman, keep your legs closed and your eye on the prize.

Answer 2

Assuming two adults over 18 and two dependents under 18, the US Census Bureau counts them toward the poverty rate if their household income is under $20,444, as of 2006. It's only slightly different if the number of adults versus children in the family is different. The department of Health and Human Services sets a slightly higher threshold.

As people have pointed out, this definition is problematic. Some of the key assumptions in calculating this number haven't been updated since the 1960s. It doesn't vary between rich communities and poor communities, where the cost of living can be quite different. You can be well above this income level, and be poor--struggling to afford adequate housing, food and transportation. And most theorists agree, on some level poverty is a subjective experience that can not truly be measured.

If you want to read more about what it means "to be poor in America" today, I strongly recommend the popular books -Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America- by Barbara Ehrenreich or -The Working Poor: Invisible in America- by David K. Shipler

Answer 3

The answer probably warries depending on the wealth of the answerer. Our tax system would indicate that the annual cost of living per person is about $8,400. But in reality, no one in America can live independently on that amount, unless perhaps you live in a small shack with no utilities, no property tax, and you use a bicycle to get to work. So it also depends on where a person lives. In NYC, a family of four cannot reasonably sustain themselves on $30,000 annually, and yet that same income in a small rural town would be marginally sufficient. The best definition of poor then is the lack of income necessary to meet the minimum financial requirement of your location. You have to consider that not having a home entertainment system or a brand new car or even being able to afford eating at restaurants or going to the movies does not constitute being poor, for all these expenditures are luxuries beyond the necessity of basic survival in modern America. Most poor people, however, generally purchase delivered food and have a big screen TV in their homes, and it is this, their own misuse of limited financial resources, that makes them unable to meet the financial requirements of things like heating and mortgage payments. So are they then really poor, or are they simply unable or unwilling to succeed in a capitalistic economy? Bluntly, it is not inaccurate to claim that most people in America are poor because they are either too stupid or too lazy, although granted there are exceptions of poverty due to other factors, such as corporate greed, environmental distress, and real physical handicap (but being fat is not a physical handicap!).

Answer 4

that is really hard to say right now because due to the econemy the income level to the poor is rising.people once concidered to be on the lower level of the so called middle class can today not make it anymore.paychecks don`t buy what they used to anymore.

Answer 5

In Canada any couple living on $30,000 or less, is living below the poverty line.

Answer 6

I think its 18,000 or less per year

Answer 7

If they were on Welfare