At least things didn’t get worse. For half a decade, the percent of Americans living below the poverty line has increased each year, from 12.3 percent in 2006 to 15.1 percent in 2010. Today the Census Bureau released its analysis of U.S. poverty in 2011, and the official poverty rate essentially held at 15 percent, meaning that 46.2 million people live below the poverty line.
That’s still the highest level in almost two decades, but it’s good news compared with what some people expected. The Brookings Institution, for example, predicted that the rate would increase to 15.5 percent, or an additional 1.5 million people.
