Question

4. Understanding the U.S. poverty line The following table shows the U.S. poverty thresholds for 2018 by size of family and number of related children under the age of 18. All figures are in dollars. For example, a family with two adults and three children is considered to be living in poverty if the family's income in 2018 is below $29,967. Related Children under 18 Years None One Two Three Four Five Size of Family Unit One person (unrelated individual) Under 65 years 13,064 65 years and over 12,043 Two persons Households under 65 years 16,815 17,308 Households 65 years and over 15,178 17,242 Three persons 19,642 Four persons 25,900 31,234 Five persons 25,554 29,967 34,612 29,509 35,925 20,212 20,231 26,324 25,465 31,689 30,718 36,068 35,324 41,594 40,705 46,640 45,800 55,883 55,140 33,553 Six persons Seven persons 32,925 37,581 41,336 46,231 40,085 45,064 38,929 44,021 42,696 Eight persons Nine persons or more 55,613 54,516 53,491 52,082 Source: "Poverty Thresholds by Size of Family and Number of Children, 2018," United States Census Bureau, https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2019/demo/income-poverty/p60-266.html.

Answer 1

Scenario 1. This is a family of 5 persons and 3 children. The corresponding poverty threshold is $29,967. Since their family income is $27000 which is lower than the threshold, they are living in poverty. The answer is yes.

Scenario 2: If Tim leaves the family then the the family size is now 4 persons and 3 children. The corresponding poverty threshold is $25,554. Since their family income is $15000 which is lower than the threshold, they are living in poverty. The answer is yes.

Scenario 3: Afer receiving food assistance, their total income is 15000+5000= $20,000. The poverty threshold remains the same at $25,554. They are still living in poverty.The answer is yes.