Two ways to measure US poverty through 2023

In 2011, the federal government began assessing poverty using the supplemental poverty measure. Unlike the official poverty rate, which it continued to track, this measure takes into account benefits and tax credits. That alternative metric indicated that poverty fell sharply in 2020 and 2021 as Americans received payments to offset the toll the COVID-19 pandemic took on their incomes. The brief expansion of the child tax credit made a big difference, too. The supplemental rate rebounded in 2022 and 2023 after the safety net expansion ended.