📊IMSPARK: Data That Reveals What’s Hidden📊

📊Imagine... Data That Reveals What’s Hidden📊

💡 Imagined Endstate:

A future where poverty, coverage, and income data don’t just report averages, but uncover who’s left behind, so policies are targeted, lives are seen, and communities like those in the Pacific or remote regions don’t vanish in the margins.

📚 Source:

U.S. Census Bureau. (2025, September 9). Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the U.S.: 2024. Link. 

💥 What’s the Big Deal:

In 2024, the median household income in the U.S. was $83,730, roughly flat compared to 2023, meaning gains were offset by rising costs 💰. The official poverty rate dipped slightly to 10.6 %, but the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) stayed at 12.9 %, revealing millions who are struggling but statistically "invisible".

Although 92.1% had some health insurance in 2024, that still leaves millions uninsured or underinsured, especially in remote and underserved regions 💳.

For Pacific Islanders and remote communities, national averages hide deeper burdens: higher costs of living, fewer providers, and limited access to coverage 🧭. These conditions aren't captured by income alone. Without more inclusive measures like the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), we risk underestimating intergenerational poverty, especially in PI-SIDS like those in Hawaiʻi, American Samoa, and the Marshall Islands. Better data means better decisions, and more just outcomes for all.

 

#PovertyMatters, #HealthCoverageForAll, #BetterDataBetterPolicy, #PacificIslandersCount, #IncomeAndBeyond, #HiddenHardship, #InclusiveLeadership,#IMSPARK,

🔗IMSPARK: Seeing Poverty in Full Color, Not Black and White🔗

🔗Imagine... Seeing Poverty in Full Color, Not Black and White🔗

💡 Imagined Endstate:

A future where we don’t just know who is poor by income, but who is struggling with housing costs, medical bills, taxes, and the true burdens of everyday life. Where policy is built on full truth, not partial shadows.

📚 Source:

Creamer, J. & Burns, K. (2025, September). Difference Between the Supplemental and Official Poverty Measures. U.S. Census Bureau, Random Samplings blog. Link.

💥 What’s the Big Deal:

The U.S. counts poverty in two ways, and that difference is not academic. The Official Poverty Measure looks only at pre-tax cash income against a fixed threshold🏘️, unchanged in structure since the 1960s. The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) goes further: it adds noncash benefits (like food assistance and housing subsidies), subtracts necessary expenses (medical care, taxes, work-related costs), and adjusts for housing and regional cost differences.

Because of that, in 2023 the SPM rate (12.9 %) was higher than the official rate (11.1 %). That gap shows how many people are “invisible poor” under the official system, families who face heavy medical bills, rent burdens, or work expenses that cash income alone hides📊. For Pacific Islander and remote communities, where costs are higher for energy, transport, food, or where benefits might not reach fully, this richer measure might reveal deeper deprivation than the standard measure sees.

Using only the official measure risks undercounting need🔍, misallocating resources, and leaving lives unrecorded. The SPM offers a sharper lens; one that policymakers need if equity is more than lip service and poverty relief is more than numbers.

#PovertyInFullColor #SPMvsOfficial #EquityMeasurement #HiddenHardship #PacificTruths #MeasureToServe