Poverty by racial groups 65 years of age and older, 1974-2014
Here, we illustrate the percentage of people over 65 years of age, by racial group, that are in poverty over time since 1974. Over 15 percent of non-Hispanic whites over the age of 65 were in poverty until 1979, which then leveled off to under 13 percent starting in 1987. Regardless of the variance due to the small sample, we can see that Asians over the age of 65 have been steadily increasing into poverty by over 5 points since 1987.

Poverty by racial groups 18 to 64 years of age, 1974-2014
We compiled the percentage in poverty within each racial group for people between 18 to 64 years of age. Data on poverty by age started being gathered in 1974 around the same time Latinos/Hispanics started to be included in Census tracks. We are observing more fluctuation and variance with Asians overtime due to a smaller population size and sample. Although non-Hispanic whites and blacks leveled off in the last image, we are able to observe that when broken down by mid-range age, the percentage of their respective populations in poverty steadily grows over time.

Poverty by racial groups under 18 years of age, 1974-2014
This graph demonstrates the percentage of people under 18 years of age living in poverty by racial group. People under 18 years of age, according to the OMB, are considered the children related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption who are not themselves the householder. Here, we observe a steady decline for all groups under the age of 18 over time beginning in 1974. Although the percentage of all groups between 18 to 64 seems to be increasing over time, their children seem to be getting out of poverty simultaneously.

Poverty by racial groups over time, 1962-2014
This image illustrates the percentage in poverty from 1962 to 2014 between racial groups. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) uses dollar value thresholds that vary by family size and type to conclude who is in poverty. These thresholds are updated for each year to reflect inflation by utilizing the Consumer Price Index. The data for each racial group starts when it was first collected by the OMB and Census Bureau. What we observe is that non-Hispanic whites consistently have a higher percentage of people in poverty, over a 5 point difference, compared to other racial groups. We also see that Hispanics in poverty have been increasing over time since the early 1970s.