Poverty in the U.S. Rose in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Poverty amongst Americans rose in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, the poverty rate rose to 11.4 percent. If not for the two stimulus checks, CNN Politics reports that 11.7 million Americans could have been included in that number. The stats come from new data released on Tuesday by the Census Bureau.

According to the bureau, the U.S. government’s COVID-19 relief response led to a decrease in a different poverty measure to 9.1 percent in 2020, writes Tami Luhby of CNN. In 2020, it was the first time the Supplemental Poverty Measure had lower numbers than the official rate.

The Supplemental Poverty Measure started in 2009, which was “formed in 2009 and charged with developing a set of initial starting points to permit the U.S. Census Bureau, in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics…,” the United States Census Bureau states on its website.

In 2020, the country saw the poverty rate rise from a low of 10.5 percent, CNN reports.