<Li> In 1991, 8.3% of children in two - parent families were likely to live in poverty; 19.6% of children lived with a father in a single parent family; and 47.1% in a single parent family headed by a mother . </Li> <Li> Income levels vary with age . For example, the median 2009 income for households headed by individuals age 15--24 was only $30,750, but increased to $50,188 for household headed by individuals age 25--34 and $61,083 for household headed by individuals 35--44 . Work experience and additional education may be factors . </Li> <Li> Income levels vary along racial / ethnic lines: 21% of all children in the United States live in poverty, about 46% of black children and 40% of Latino children . The poverty rate is 9.9% for black married couples, and only 30% of black children are born to married couples (see Marriage below). The poverty rate for native born and naturalized whites is identical (9.6%). On the other hand, the poverty rate for naturalized blacks is 11.8% compared to 25.1% for native born blacks, suggesting race alone does not explain income disparity . Not all minorities have low incomes . Asian families have higher incomes than all other ethnic groups . For example, the 2005 median income of Asian families was $68,957 compared to the median income of white families of $59,124 . Asians, however, report discrimination occurrences more frequently than blacks . Specifically, 31% of Asians reported employment discrimination compared to 26% of blacks in 2005 . </Li> <Li> Policies that address income and wealth inequality (i.e., policies that transfer money from higher - income and more wealthy families to less wealthy families) bear significantly on poverty . Economist Jared Bernstein and Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute suggest that poverty could have decreased significantly if inequality had not increased over the last few decades . Economist Larry Summers estimated that at 1979 levels of income inequality, the bottom 80% of families would have an average of $11,000 more per year in income in 2014 . </Li>

The u.s. government's definition of the poverty line is based on