The dashboards on this page include data on poverty rate by race and ethnicity, as well as age. Poverty rate is the share of people whose income is below the poverty level as defined by the Census Bureau.
Poverty rate by race and ethnicity
This dashboard shows poverty rate across Virginia from 2010 to 2022 by race and ethnicity.
Data is available at the state, CBSA, and locality level.
Poverty rate by age
This dashboard shows poverty rate across Virginia from 2010 to 2022 by age.
It is important to note that the poverty rate among the 18 to 24 age group is often much higher than expected in communities with a large number of off-campus college students, who have little to no reported income. While there are methods to exclude these individuals from a community’s poverty rate (see “Additional resources” below), they are beyond the capacity for this dashboard to show.
Additional resources
U.S. Census Bureau
How the Census Bureau Measures Poverty
Brookings Institution
Long shadows: The Black-white gap in multigenerational poverty
Fahe
National Poverty Center
The Colors of Poverty: Why Racial & Ethnic Disparities Persist
University of Virginia Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service
Data sources
American Community Survey (ACS)
The American Community Survey is an ongoing survey program of the U.S. Census Bureau. The ACS collects information about the nation’s social, economic, housing, and demographic characteristics on an annual basis. This information provides the most-up-to-date estimates between decennial censuses.
This section uses data from one ACS table:
- Table B17001: Poverty Status by Sex by Age (iterations by race and ethnicity)
The most recent data used for this section are the 2018-2022 5-year estimates. These estimates average all survey responses across this period to increase sample sizes and reduce margins of error. Data from the previous 5-year estimates are also used as a baseline to show change over time.
