Women and Poverty in the United States

A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau finds that in 2013, 15.8 percent of all women and girls in the United States lived in poverty. For all males, the poverty rate was 13.1 percent. The good news is that the poverty rate for women and girls dropped from 16.3 percent to 15.8 percent from 2012 to 2013. However, the gender gap remained the same.

For those under the age of 18, 20 percent of girls and 19.8 percent of boys were being raised in poverty. But the gender gap in poverty rates grows as women get older. Some 15.3 percent of women aged 18 to 64 in 2013 were in poverty compared to 11.8 percent of men in that age group. But the gender gap grows even larger on a percentage basis for those over 65 years of age. In 2013, 11.6 percent of older women lived in poverty compared to 6.8 percent of older men.

In 2013, only 5.8 percent of married couple families lived in poverty. For families headed by a single man, 15.9 percent of all families were poor. But for families headed by a single woman, 30.6 percent of all families were poor.

The full report, Income and Poverty in the United States, 2013, may be downloaded by clicking here.