--- title: 6 in 10 Americans Will Experience Poverty description: Over a lifetime, most Americans will experience at least a year of relative poverty, says a new study. authors: - name: Jackie Zimmermann url: https://money.com/author/jackie-zimmermann/ at_money_since: 2014 articles: 22 covers: - Economy and Politics - Career Advice - Education - Housing - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Personal Finance - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/jackie_zm former_staff: true published: '2015-07-24T16:44:26.000Z' modified: '2024-04-16T06:16:25.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - Income Inequality - occupy wallstreet - poverty - Tea Party word_count: 350 canonical: https://money.com/six-in-ten-americans-will-experience-poverty/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![worn out dusty shoes with holes in them](https://img.money.com/2015/07/150722_em_relativepoverty.jpg) Over a lifetime, most Americans will experience at least a year of relative poverty, says a new study. Between the ages of 25 and 60, over 60% of the population at some point sees an annual income that puts them in the bottom 20% of earners. About 40% will live for a year or more in the bottom 10% [The study's](http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0133513) co-authors, Thomas Hirschl of Cornell University and Mark Rank of Washington University in St. Louis, released a somewhat similar report earlier this year that looked at [fluidity at the top of the income spectrum.](https://money.com/income-inequality-mobility/) It found that 70% of Americans will spend at least a year in the top 20% of income by the time they are 60. Placing the two reports side-by-side shows that income inequality isn't as static or simple as the haves and have-nots. There are also a lot of people who can be called the have-right-nows. "I think the real danger is that people feel insecurity at the top and bottom," says Hirschl. That insecurity, he argues, has helped fuel two seemingly disparate movements: Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party. "Insecurity rules large in the human psyche," he says. "People feel like 'My problem is a serious problem, and I want the rules to change so I don't have this problem anymore.'" Acknowledging the fluidity between the upper and lower echelons of income distribution offers a more nuanced approach to conversations about inequality. "We see very clearly that people have periods of hardship," Hirschl. "So having a way of distributing goods and services, and dealing with economic insecurity and social inequality, are real questions facing the majority," The study is based on data collected regularly by the [University of Michigan's Panel Study of Income Dynamics](http://psidonline.isr.umich.edu) from 1968 to 2011. It's measure of poverty isn't the same as the government's poverty threshold, an absolute measure based on the ability to meet basic needs. Instead, it's a relative measure, which Hirschl says matters more "in the context of rising inequality." *Read next: New York’s $15 Minimum Wage for Fast Food Workers Is The Latest Industry-Specific Hike* ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/six-in-ten-americans-will-experience-poverty/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Inequality and Discrimination", "item": "https://money.com/inequality-and-discrimination/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "6 in 10 Americans Will Experience Poverty" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/six-in-ten-americans-will-experience-poverty/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/six-in-ten-americans-will-experience-poverty/", "name": "6 in 10 Americans Will Experience Poverty", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2015-07-24T16:44:26.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/six-in-ten-americans-will-experience-poverty/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/six-in-ten-americans-will-experience-poverty/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-16T06:16:25.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "6 in 10 Americans Will Experience Poverty", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/07/150722_em_relativepoverty.jpg", "width": 2100, "height": 1397, "caption": "150722_EM_RelativePoverty" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jackie Zimmermann", "url": "https://money.com/author/jackie-zimmermann/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/jackie-zimmermann/#author", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/jackie_zm" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2015-07-24T16:44:26.000Z", "description": "Over a lifetime, most Americans will experience at least a year of relative poverty, says a new study.", "abstract": "Over a lifetime, most Americans will experience at least a year of relative poverty, says a new study.", "@id": "https://money.com/six-in-ten-americans-will-experience-poverty/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-16T06:16:25.000Z", "wordCount": 350, "keywords": [ "Income Inequality", "occupy wallstreet", "poverty", "Tea Party" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Political economy", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_economy" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Discrimination", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrimination" ] } ] } ] } ```