The federal poverty level is an economic measure used to decide whether an individual or family qualifies for federal ...

The idea of the poverty line dates back to 1963, when Mollie Orshansky, a statistician for the Social Security Administration, developed a method to measure how many families were unable to afford ...

In late November 2025, Michael W. Green, chief strategist and portfolio manager at Simplify Asset Management, published a Substack essay arguing that a family of four needs roughly $136,500 a year to ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Aisha Nyandoro is a leading voice on equitable economic policies. It’s time to retire the outdated federal poverty line and ...