Download Heartland Alliance's Measuring Poverty in America Testimony

The Self-Sufficiency Standard makes it abundantly clear that just because someone is not officially poor does not mean they have a standard of living that allows them to fully function and participate in American life.

The traditional way the United States has measured and tracked hardship - with the federal poverty measure - was devised over four decades ago as a one-size-fits-all approach to income adequacy based on a single factor—the cost of food—at a time when families, on average, spent one third of their income on food. It fails to account for the costs of the broader spectrum of basic needs, the variations in family sizes and types, and the variation of costs across different geographies. Annual adjustments to the measure do not factor in the ballooning cost of health care coverage or the increasing portion of monthly income that goes to taxes and child care—a much larger share than 40 years ago. Additionally, the measure is not sensitive to the value of income supports such rental assistance or food stamps or the impact of tax credits, making it difficult to assess the how these affect families’ bottom lines.

The poverty measure is now an incomplete and outdated way of measuring economic security and stability—one that now measures deprivation rather than income adequacy.

The Social IMPACT Research Center's Illinois Self-Sufficiency Project is made possible through the generous support of the Grand Victoria Foundation and the Chicago Foundation for Women.