The U.S. poverty rate fell to its lowest recorded level, the Census Bureau announced.
The data, tracking numbers from 2025, reveal that the poverty rate fell 0.5% to 10.2% and consists of about 34.5 million Americans. The data represents the second consecutive annual decline in the poverty rate.
“President Trump’s proven economic agenda delivered historic working-class prosperity in his first year back in office, with record-high real income and record-low poverty—breaking the records he set during his first term,” White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said in a statement to Newsweek, discussing the numbers. “The President was reelected in a landslide victory to turn the page on Joe Biden’s inflation crisis, and he remains laser-focused on doubling down on his winning economic agenda of tax cuts, deregulation, and energy abundance here at home to drive economic prosperity for everyday Americans.”
According to the Official Poverty Measure (OPM), shared by the outlet, California had the largest number of people living in poverty, with about 4.17 million over a three-year period. California was followed by Texas, with 3.61 million; Florida, with 2.82 million; and New York, with 2.13 million.
Speaking before the House Committee on Financial Services, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the data presents “several inconvenient facts” for the Trump administration’s opponents. “Under President Trump, the private sector has created over 1 million jobs,” he said. “Real wages are outpacing inflation. The bottom 25 percent of wage earners are seeing larger wage increases than those at the top. And the Working Families Tax Cuts has delivered the largest share of tax relief directly to millions of low- and middle-income Americans.
The poverty rate for children dropped to 13.4% in 2025, a number the Census Bureau called a “historic low.”
Median incomes also increased for American households, with White households seeing a 3.0% increase; a 2.9% increase for non-Hispanic White households; and 4.8% for Black households. There were no significant changes among Asian or Hispanic households.
