How Many Seniors Are Living in Poverty? National and State Estimates Under the Official and Supplemental Poverty Measures in 2016

Many seniors are on limited incomes and have modest savings, with half of all people on Medicare in 2016 having less than $26,200 in income, reports the Kaiser Family Foundation . Current estimates of poverty based on the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) indicate that the share of seniors who are struggling financially is bigger than is communicated by the official poverty measure. Under the SPM, 7.1 million adults 65 and up lived in poverty in 2016 versus 4.6 million under the official poverty measure. In addition, almost 21 million people ages 65 and older had incomes of less than 200 percent of poverty under the SPM in 2016 compared to 15 million under the official measure. Both the official measure and the SPM signaled that the poverty rate among people ages 65 and older rose with age and was higher for women, black people, Hispanics, and individuals in relatively poor health. Under the SPM, 4.4 million senior women lived in poverty in 2016, 1.5 million more than under the official measure. Meanwhile, 2.8 million older men lived in poverty under the SPM, 1.1 million more than under the official measure. Finally, the SPM estimated that at least 15 percent of people ages 65 and older lived in poverty in 10 states and Washington, D.C. in 2016. The official poverty measure held that only D.C. had a poverty rate higher than 15 percent for older adults in 2016.