How many of us are poor?

Answering that question is not as easy as one may think.  Yes, we do have an official poverty statistic that is produced by the U.S. Census Bureau, but nobody likes it.  Many on the Left think it is too low, failing to capture the full array of expenses that families face.  Folks on the Right think it is too high because it does not account for the effects of many anti-poverty programs and tax credits on family budgets.

Even the Census Bureau is not entirely satisfied with current poverty statistics.  As they continue to produce the official measure, they have recently been releasing alternative statistics through the “Supplemental Poverty Measure” (SPM) program.  These new numbers reflect a more nuanced look into poverty, and are widely believed by researchers and the media to better capture the actual financial circumstances of American families.

But the SPM has its limitations.  Primary among them is that the new measure is designed for the national level.  State estimates are only available as three-year averages, and local-level estimates are not available at all.

This is unfortunate for a state like Virginia, which has wide regional inequalities in terms of economics, education, and even basic demographics.  Because of this, official poverty statistics don’t make sense in Virginia.  A one-size-fits-all measure that defines poverty in Northern Virginia the same as it does in coal country does not work and belies our commonsense understanding of the actual resources and costs families face across regions.  A better method is needed.

Today, the Cooper Center is releasing its work on a new “Virginia Poverty Measure” (VPM) that will provide SPM-like estimates for Virginia and its local regions.

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