SPMTHRESH is a 5-digit numeric variable.

Description

SPMTHRESH_19RYALT records the poverty threshold used to calculate the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) for a family. Unlike the official poverty measure, SPM thresholds are based on consumer expenditures on food, clothing, shelter and utilities (FCSU) and updated to reflect changes in family spending.

This variable is an alternative version of SPMTHRESH that was re-released for the 2020 ASEC which reflects methodological changes first introduced with the 2021 CPS ASEC sample. For more information, see our documentation on the re-release of the 2019 SPM research file in the 2020 ASEC that describes methodological improvements that impact SPM resource and threshold variables. The SPM reference year is the calendar year to which the income, taxes, transfers, expenses, and poverty thresholds apply.

The base SPM threshold is calculated for a two-adult, two-child family, and distinguishes between families that rent, own their home with a mortgage, or own their home without a mortgage (available in SPMMORT_19RYALT). The threshold is then adjusted to reflect the number of adults and children in the family using an equivalence scale (available in SPMEQSCALE_19RYALT). The SPM definition of family poverty units differs from the family units used to calculate official poverty rates; SPM family units are identified in SPMFAMUNIT_19RYALT. SPM thresholds are further adjusted to reflect geographic differences in the cost of living (recorded in SPMGEOADJ_19RYALT).

SPMTHRESHANC12_19RYALT is an anchored corollary to SPMTHRESH_19RYALT, and denotes thresholds pegged to a 2012 standard of living. These anchored variables provide a more absolute measure of poverty over time.

For more information on the calculation of SPM thresholds, see the Census Bureau's "The Research Supplemental Poverty Measure" report.

Comparability

In 2021 (and this applies to this alternative version of the variable), the Census Bureau implemented several changes to the calculation of SPM poverty thresholds. These include:

• Moving the base of the thresholds from the average of 30-36th percentile to 83% of the average of the 47th-53rd percentiles

• Expanding the estimation sample to include all consumer units with children

• Lagging Consumer Expenditure Survey data by one year

• Adding imputed in-kind benefits to the thresholds

• Ceasing to geographically adjust telephone expenditures

• Adding home internet expenditures to the threshold

• Replacing the All Items, All Urban index with a composite Food, Clothing, Shelter, and Utilities Consumer Price index to adjust threshold components.

For more details on the 2021 updates to the Supplemental Poverty Measure, see Burns and Fox, 2021.

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