Most populated cities number of families below the poverty line U.S. 2021

In 2021, New York city had the highest number of families living below the poverty line, at an estimated 272,461 families. New York city is also the most heavily populated city in the United States.

Number of families who live below the poverty level in the top 25 most populated cities in the United States in 2021

Characteristic	Number of families with income below the poverty line
New York city, New York	272,461
Los Angeles city, California	106,632
Houston city, Texas	87,085
Chicago city, Illinois	75,085
Philadelphia city, Pennsylvania	63,671
San Antonio city, Texas	47,296
Phoenix city, Arizona	41,381
Dallas city, Texas	39,044
Columbus city, Ohio	28,177
El Paso city, Texas	27,836
Jacksonville city, Florida	26,192
San Diego city, California	24,255
Fort Worth city, Texas	23,371
Indianapolis city (balance), Indiana	22,718
Oklahoma City city, Oklahoma	20,086
Nashville-Davidson metropolitan government (balance), Tennessee	16,753
Boston city, Massachusetts	16,710
Washington city, District of Columbia	16,434
Charlotte city, North Carolina	16,109
Austin city, Texas	16,108
Las Vegas city, Nevada	16,031
Denver city, Colorado	12,546
San Francisco city, California	11,468
San Jose city, California	10,931
Seattle city, Washington	8,952

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Release date

September 2021

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Region

United States

Survey time period

2021

Supplementary notes

The poverty threshold, or poverty line, is the minimum level of income deemed necessary to achieve an adequate standard of living in a given country. In practice, like the definition of poverty, the official or common understanding of the poverty line is significantly higher in developed countries than in developing countries.

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