Data on Poverty & Income

Poverty is a women’s issue. Nearly six in ten poor adults are women, and more than half of all poor children live in families headed by women. Poverty rates are especially high for single mothers, women of color, and elderly women living alone.

In addition to the resources below, please see NWLC's detailed analysis of the 2012 Census poverty data, as well as past reports on women's income and poverty rates.

Highlights

Reports & Toolkits | Insecure & Unequal: Poverty Among Women and Families 2000-2012

September 26, 2013

This report provides a gender analysis of national and state poverty and income data for 2012, released by the Census Bureau in September 2013.

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Fact Sheet | National Snapshot: Poverty Among Women & Families, 2012

September 18, 2013

The poverty rates for women, like poverty rates overall, remained at historically high levels in 2012, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released in September 2013. Women’ poverty rates were once again substantially above the poverty rates for men.

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Fact Sheet | FAQs about the Census Bureau’s Official Poverty Measure

September 19, 2013

Each year, the Census Bureau releases data on poverty and income in the United States, and the National Women’s Law Center analyzes these data to provide a picture of how women and their families are faring. The following frequently asked questions take a closer look at what the Census Bureau numbers tell us—and don’t tell us—about poverty.

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Infographics and Internet Memes | Women and Poverty, State by State

September 24, 2013

More than one in seven women, nearly 17.8 million, lived in poverty last year. Poverty rates were particularly high for families headed by single mothers – more than four in ten (40.9 percent) were poor. More than half (56.1 percent) of poor children lived in female-headed families in 2012.
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More Resources

Fact Sheet | Wage Gap: State Rankings 2012

September 19, 2013

This table shows the gender wage gaps in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

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Fact Sheet | National Snapshot: Poverty Among Women & Families, 2012

September 18, 2013

The poverty rates for women, like poverty rates overall, remained at historically high levels in 2012, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released in September 2013. Women’ poverty rates were once again substantially above the poverty rates for men.

 Read more...

Fact Sheet | The Wage Gap is Stagnant in the Last Decade

September 18, 2013

New data from 2012 show that the typical woman still earns only 77 cents for each dollar the typical man earns.  Learn more about the numbers in this fact sheet.

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Infographics and Internet Memes | Women and the Minimum Wage, State by State

June 25, 2013

On this interactive map, click on a state to see its minimum  wage and tipped minimum wage, plus the  share of minimum wage workers who are women, the next scheduled increase in the minimum wage, and any recent action on the minimum wage in the state legislature.

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Fact Sheet | Still No Recovery for Women in the Manufacturing Sector: Manufacturing Employment Trends for Women and Men, 2008-2013

March 25, 2013

After decades of job losses, U.S. manufacturing has started to make a comeback—but women are not sharing in these gains.  Men gained 535,000 manufacturing jobs between January 2010 and February 2013, while women lost 18,000 manufacturing jobs over the same period. As policymakers focus on promoting manufacturing employment in the U.S., they should ensure that women share in this growth.

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