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Health Indicator Report of Utah Population Characteristics: Poverty, All Persons

Poverty takes into account both income and family size, and has both immediate and long-lasting effects on health. Income provides an assessment of the financial resources available to individual persons or families for basic necessities (e.g., food, clothing, and health care) to maintain or improve their well-being. Persons living in poverty are worse off than persons in more affluent households for many of the indicators tracked by the Utah Department of Health.
The data for this graph come from the Current Population Survey (CPS) for years 1980-2007, from the American Community Survey (ACS) for years 2008-2016 and from Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) for years 2017-2020.

Percentage of Persons Living in Poverty, Utah and U.S., 1980-2021

Notes

Both the ACS and CPS data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability. The degree of uncertainty for an estimate arising from sampling variability is represented through the use of a margin of error. The value shown here is the 90 percent margin of error. The margin of error can be interpreted roughly as providing 90 percent probability that the interval defined by the estimate minus the margin of error and the estimate plus the margin of error (the lower and upper confidence bounds) contains the true value.

Data Sources

  • U.S. Current Population Survey
  • American Community Survey

Data Interpretation Issues

Poverty status is determined by comparing annual income to a set of dollar values called thresholds that vary by family size, number of children, and age of householder. If a family's before tax money income is less than the dollar value of their threshold, then that family and every individual in it are considered to be in poverty. For people not living in families, poverty status is determined by comparing the individual's income to his or her threshold. The poverty threshold for a family of four including two children was $27479 in 2021. Poverty thresholds are updated annually to allow for changes in the cost of living using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). They do not vary geographically.

Definition

The percentage of persons living in households whose income is at or below the federal poverty threshold.

Numerator

Estimated number of persons living in households whose income is at or below the federal poverty threshold as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Denominator

Estimated number of persons in the population.

Healthy People Objective SDOH-3.1:

Proportion of persons living in poverty
U.S. Target: Not applicable; this measure is being tracked for informational purposes.

Other Objectives

CSTE Chronic Disease Indicator - Poverty

How Are We Doing?

According to the American Community Survey (ACS), approximately 8.6% of Utah residents, or 281,673 Utahns, were living in poverty in 2021. This includes 76,102 children aged 17 and under.

What Is Being Done?

Health care "safety net" programs, such as Medicaid, CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Plan), and the Primary Care Network (PCN) provide some relief to those who are eligible. Utah's community health centers also fill a critical niche in providing high-quality health care services to Utahns of any income level. Programs such as Head Start and those that provide assistance linking people with jobs aim to reduce poverty by increasing social functioning and self-sufficiency. Other programs, such as minimum wage requirements, food stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and government subsidized health insurance and child care, provide assistance to families needing additional support.

Available Services

Utah Department of Workforce Services[[br]] P.O. Box 45249[[br]] Salt Lake City, UT 84145-0249[[br]] Phone: (801) 526-WORK (9675)[[br]] Fax: (801) 526-9211[[br]] Email: dwscontactus@utah.gov[[br]] [http://jobs.utah.gov/]
Page Content Updated On 01/12/2023, Published on 02/06/2023
The information provided above is from the Utah Department of Health and Human Services IBIS-PH web site (http://ibis.health.state.gov). The information published on this website may be reproduced without permission. Please use the following citation: " Retrieved Tue, 19 March 2024 2:57:47 from Utah Department of Health and Human Services, Indicator-Based Information System for Public Health Web site: http://ibis.health.state.gov ".

Content updated: Mon, 6 Feb 2023 14:45:06 MST