The U.S. Census released its annual report on poverty in the United States this month. The results should shock everyone.
The Supplemental Poverty Measure is a comprehensive way to gauge economic deprivation in the United States. It was first conducted in 2010. The survey reflects modern government safety-net programs and contemporary living costs, and gauges how Americans are managing against real world realities of rising rents, skyrocketing medical costs and increased grocery bills.
These are the realities clients helped by organizations like Serving Seniors must confront daily.
The 2025 data shows the poverty rate at 15.4% among older adults. While the percentage hasn’t changed, the growth in the older adult population means far more older adults are now living in poverty. Over 10 million people are now living in poverty, an increase of 500,000 people.
Older adults of color make up a large share. One in four Latino and Black older adults, nearly a quarter of of American Indian and Alaska Native older adults, and one in five Asian older adults are living in poverty.
For our team at Serving Seniors, our experience puts real names and faces to these numbers. These numbers give us a real picture of the lives of millions of older adults who, despite our best efforts, are still living in poverty.
By discussing this report publicly thanks to news organizations like Times of San Diego, Serving Seniors hopes it becomes a call to action for our policymakers to strengthen and improve critical programs such as Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, Medicare and Medicaid.
The importance of programs like Social Security cannot be overstated. While Social Security payments have not kept up with the rate of inflation for many years, the program remains the last line of defense against poverty. Without Social Security, the number of people below the poverty line would triple. Women and people of color would suffer the greatest effects.
All of us are feeling the effects of expensive food, health care, housing and fuel. For seniors who depend on these programs for their survival, it is a dire situation. In San Diego, the clients we serve have an average Social Security income of just $1,200 a month. The majority of our clients are left with ten dollars per day after paying for even the most affordable housing.
Imagine going through your day knowing you have just ten dollars for all your meals, your healthcare and prescriptions, for transportation and for your utility bills.
On the front lines of poverty, Serving Seniors focuses first on ensuring low-income and older adults get enough to eat. We provide nearly 1.5 million meals annually at no cost to our clients thanks to federal funding and to the grants and individual donors who make it possible.
But this is just the start. Our case managers do what they can to ensure older adults are receiving all the benefits to which they are entitled, working with many other organizations that make up the safety net for older adults in poverty. But it is often simply not enough.
The American people understand this reality and overwhelmingly support protecting and strengthening Social Security on a bipartisan basis. But even with programs like Social Security and other federal assistance, 10 million older adults are living in poverty. Millions more have incomes above the official poverty line but still well short of economic security.
We see it every day. Seniors facing rising housing costs, health care expenses, and everyday living costs are just one emergency, rent increase, or health crisis away from serious financial hardship.
Now we are just weeks away from cuts to programs like Medicaid and SNAP enacted through federal legislation known as “The Big Beautiful Bill.” We expect the number of people in need of assistance will likely continue to grow.
Serving Seniors and its supporters will do what we can to help older adults live healthy and dignified lives in the face of the growing affordability crisis. But we cannot do it all. Americans must protect and strengthen all of the federal programs that provide economic security and affordable health care.
We know the Social Security safety net now faces an approaching financing shortfall. Congress must act to raise the revenue needed to secure the program for the future and reject cuts that would harm older adults who rely on Social Security.
The numbers simply don’t lie. The Census Supplemental Poverty Measure report shows us both how much these programs accomplish. Now it is important to do more. Our older adults who built our communities, educated the next generation, and contributed so much deserve no less.
Melinda Forstey is president and chief executive officer of Serving Seniors.
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