A family living in a rural state usually spends about $18,000 with mortgage, a family living in California with mortgage house is likely to spend at least $35,000 to maintain a very simple lifestyle. The same research proved that the number is not coming down, concluding that 47 million Americans are below the poverty level. This number stayed the same for the last three years, showing worse result than in 2009.

 According to the research, the majority of people living in poverty are the ones who were not born in the US, especially Hispanics and Blacks. Straight after them with even worse living conditions come people who have no rights to remain in the country and the ones who are not eligible to receive government support.

 Among the states the worst conditions are in Iowa, Wyoming and Minnesota. The poll also demonstrates who out of the bunch is more dependent on financial aid and what age groups are among them. Thus it says that more than 22% of people under 18 are in below poverty group, however, other statistics come with the number 18 on that.

 US poverty level higher than official count

 An alternative way of measuring poverty shows that nearly 2.8 million more people are struggling across the country than officially calculated, the US Census Bureau reports – and California has by far the biggest share of people in poverty, eclipsing states such as Mississippi and Louisiana.

 The poverty rate hasn’t budged over the past two years, as nearly 50 million Americans, or 16% of the population, lived in poverty in 2012, according to the special report.

 The special supplemental poverty measure suggests more are living in poverty than reported by what’s considered the “official” poverty rate, released in September. The official 2012 rate shows that 46.5 million Americans, or 15% of the population, live in poverty. That rate is also unchanged over the past two years.

 Many economists agree that the supplemental report reveals a more accurate picture of who is poor than the official poverty rate.

 The supplemental measure showed the importance of programs such as Social Security on the elderly. Without Social Security, some 54.7% of Americans age 65-plus would be in poverty, as opposed to 14.8%.

 The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) cuts for nearly 48 million people came due to the Nov. 1 expiration of provisions in the 2009 Obama stimulus law that temporarily boosted benefits.

 In September, the House of Representatives voted to cut food stamps funding by $39 billion over the next decade. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that such a level of cuts would cause up to 3.8 million people to lose food stamp benefits in 2014.

 The country’s weak economy and the high rate of unemployment have caused a growing number of people to rely on the SNAP program.

 The alternative measure also shows steeper poverty among immigrants and the elderly than officially measured. The poverty rate among Asian Americans, officially measured at 11.8%, jumps to 16.7% using the alternative measure.

 Voice of Russia, RT, LA Times, npr.org, Press TV