Q. Poverty guidelines?

Poverty guidelines are issued by the Department of Health and Human Services in late January of each year and are used for determining financial eligibility for certain programs. They vary by family size: one set of figures for the 48 contiguous states and D.C., one set for Alaska, and one set for Hawaii. They are updated from the latest published (final) weighted average poverty thresholds using the CPI-U and are rounded to various multiples of $10. In addition to the most recent guidelines, there is a table of historical guidelines.

The University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research National Welfare Data (1980-2021) includes data.