Data checked November 2, 2026Sources publish on different schedules. Each card shows the latest verified observation period and its source publication date.
01PovertyAre basic resources within reach?↘02FinancesCan households absorb a shock?↘03EmploymentIs work available—and sufficient?↘04WealthIs prosperity broadly owned?↘05SustainabilityCan prosperity endure?↘
01

Poverty

How many Americans lack adequate resources—and how much do shared institutions reduce poverty?

Latest annual release · 2025
2025 · AnnualU.S. Census Bureau · Table 4 ↗
13.1%

Supplemental Poverty Measure rate

Published September 15, 2026 ↗

What share of Americans live below the SPM threshold?

The 2025 SPM rate was 13.1%, not statistically different from 2024.
SPM poverty · share of all people (0–100%)
2024
12.9%
2025
13.1%
SPM counts taxes, tax credits, noncash benefits, necessary expenses and geographic housing costs. Census reports the 2025 rate was not statistically different from 2024.
2025 · AnnualU.S. Census Bureau · Table 16 ↗
4.2%

Deep-poverty rate

Published September 15, 2026 ↗

What share live below half of the SPM threshold?

About 4.2% of people had SPM resources below half the poverty threshold.
2025 SPM poverty rate: 13.1%
Deep poverty 4.2%Other SPM poverty 8.9%
Deep poverty is below 50% of the applicable SPM threshold. US Values Index displays the national population only and does not use race or ethnicity breakdowns.
2025 · AnnualU.S. Census Bureau · Table 6 ↗
28.8m

Social Security’s antipoverty impact

Published September 15, 2026 ↗

How much does Social Security reduce poverty?

Social Security moved 28.8 million individuals out of SPM poverty in 2025.
People moved out of SPM poverty (0–30 million)
2024
28.7m
2025
28.8m
This is Census’s annual counterfactual estimate of people moved out of SPM poverty by Social Security—not a count of beneficiaries whose only income is Social Security.
02

Finances

Can American households withstand a loss of income, meet a sudden expense and maintain stable housing?

Latest annual measures · 2025
2025 · AnnualFederal Reserve SHED · US Values Index estimate ↗
97.5m

Paying a $400 emergency expense

Report May 13, 2026 · Dataset updated July 7, 2026 ↗

Who would use something other than cash or its equivalent to pay a $400 emergency expense?

About 97.5 million adults would not pay the expense exclusively with cash or its equivalent.
37%
would not pay exclusively with cash or its equivalent
Weighted US Values Index estimate from the 2025 SHED public-use data. This measures how respondents would pay, rather than every method they could afford. Cash equivalents include savings and a credit card paid in full at the next statement.
2025 · AnnualU.S. Census Bureau · ACS Table B25106 ↗
43.7m

Housing-cost burden

Published October 29, 2026 ↗

How many households spend at least 30% of income on housing?

About 43.7 million households were housing-cost burdened in 2025.
32.6%
of U.S. households
US Values Index summed the 2025 ACS B25106 counts in the “30 percent or more” categories: 21.2 million owner households and 22.5 million renter households, or 32.6% of 134.1 million occupied households. Cost burden uses the Census/HUD 30% threshold.
03

Employment

Are Americans finding work across adult life—and does full-time work cover essential expenses?

Latest labor-market observations · September 2026
September 2026 · MonthlyBLS CPS · Table A-13 ↗

Employment across adulthood

Published October 2, 2026 ↗

What share of each adult age group is employed?

September employment-population ratios were 80.9% for ages 25–54, 66.0% for 55–64, and 17.8% for 65+.
18–2458.4%
25–5480.9%
55–6466%
65+17.8%
75+8%
September 2026 snapshot, not an annual average; age-specific monthly data are not seasonally adjusted. BLS publishes ages 18–19 and 20–24 separately; the 18–24 rate shown here is our calculation from their employed counts and population denominators. Ages 75+ are included in 65+.
September 2026 · Monthly U-6BLS CPS · Table A-15 ↗
7.6%

Underemployment

Monthly release October 2, 2026 ↗

How much labor underutilization remains beyond official unemployment?

The broad U-6 underutilization rate was 7.6% in September 2026, down from 8.1% a year earlier.
Seasonally adjusted U-6 (0–10%)
Sep 2025
8.1%
Sep 2026
7.6%
2025 annual-average count-based estimate: 13.9 million
2025 annual-average componentPeople
Officially unemployed7.3m
Part time for economic reasons4.8m
Marginally attached1.7m
The September rate is BLS’s monthly, seasonally adjusted U-6 measure. The 13.9 million total and components below it are separate 2025 annual averages; rounded components may not sum exactly. The 2025 annual averages exclude October because data were not collected during the federal shutdown. Part-time work ↗ · Marginal attachment ↗
2025 · AnnualFederal Reserve SHED · US Values Index estimate ↗
14.6m

Full-time work and basic needs

Report May 13, 2026 · Dataset updated July 7, 2026 ↗

How many full-time workers did not pay all non-credit-card bills in full last month?

An estimated 14.6 million full-time workers did not pay all non-credit-card bills in full last month.
Share of full-time workers · 2025
11.7%did not pay all non-credit-card bills in full
0%100%
Weighted US Values Index estimate from SHED public-use microdata. Full time means usually working at least 35 hours across all jobs. The bills measure excludes credit-card bills and asks about the previous month. The estimate is not a Federal Reserve-published count.
04

Wealth

Who holds America’s wealth, who owns a home across adulthood, and how often do households seek bankruptcy relief?

Current measures with long comparisons
Q2 2026 · QuarterlyFederal Reserve DFA ↗

Wealth distribution

Updated September 18, 2026 ↗

How broadly is U.S. household wealth owned?

The top 10% held 68.9% of household wealth; the bottom half held 2.3%.
Bottom 50%Next 40%Top 10%
GroupQ2 2001Q2 2026
Bottom 50%3.1%2.3%
Next 40%35.0%28.8%
Top 10%62.0%68.9%
Top 1%26.1%32.5%
Top 0.1%9.9%15.0%
Top 1% and top 0.1% are nested within the top 10%, rather than additional nonoverlapping groups. The top 10% share is the sum of the top 1% and next 9%. The 25-year comparison uses Q2 in both years and the current DFA data vintage. Historical observations may be revised. Bars use unrounded shares calculated from net-worth levels; displayed percentages may sum to 100.1% because of rounding. Groups are wealth ranks, not the same households followed over time.
ACS 2024–2025 · HVS Q3 2026U.S. Census Bureau · ACS and HVS ↗

Homeownership across adulthood

ACS October 29, 2026 · HVS October 28, 2026 ↗

How does homeownership vary by age—and how did rates change over the past year?

The 2025 ACS shows lower homeownership among householders ages 25–54 than in 2024; the latest HVS shows a split by age in Q3 2026.
AgeACS 2024ACS 2025Change
15–2416.0%16.0%0.0 pts
25–3440.4%39.3%−1.1 pts
35–4461.1%60.8%−0.3 pts
45–5470.0%69.8%−0.2 pts
55–6475.6%75.8%+0.2 pts
65+78.6%78.7%+0.1 pts
Latest Census Housing Vacancy Survey snapshot · Q3 2026
Q3 2026 HVS homeownership (0–100%)
Under 35
36.6%
35–44
60.1%
45–54
70.4%
55–64
75.4%
65+
79.1%
The youngest ACS table band is 15–24. It is not directly comparable with the earlier custom 18–24 PUMS estimate; 2025 PUMS is not yet released. ACS rates are calculated from Census Table B25007 owner-occupied and renter-occupied household counts; groups are age snapshots, not the same people followed over time. HVS is a separate quarterly series. In Q3 2026, changes for ages 35–44 and 65+ were statistically significant; other age-band changes were not. HVS release ↗ · HVS Table 7 ↗
05

Sustainability

Is America creating prosperity without compromising future generations’ ability to thrive?

Climate, food systems and innovation
2025 · PreliminaryRhodium Group ↗
18%

Progress toward the 2030 climate target / net zero

Published January 13, 2026 ↗

Is the U.S. on track to cut net emissions 50–52% below 2005 by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050?

Net greenhouse-gas emissions were about 18% below 2005 in 2025—32–34 percentage points short of the 2030 benchmark.
18 achieved50–52 target
Rhodium’s January 13, 2026 preliminary estimate; emissions rose 2.4% in 2025. EPA’s inventory is the official finalized source but arrives later. The graph compares an observed reduction with the former U.S. Paris/NDC 2030 benchmark; it is not a forecast. Net zero is the long-run benchmark.
2024 · Modeled · Reported Apr 2026ReFED · National food-waste estimate ↗
60m tons

Food wasted

2026 report published April 7, 2026 ↗

Is the U.S. halving food waste by 2030?

ReFED estimates 60 million tons of food went to waste destinations in 2024—25% of the U.S. food supply.
25%
of the U.S. food supply sent to waste destinations
Source: ReFED. This is its latest modeled estimate; 2024 is the most recent year with data. Waste destinations include composting, anaerobic digestion, landfill, combustion, sewer, dumping, spread onto land and unharvested food. The broader 70-million-ton surplus measure also includes donations, animal feed and other uses; it is not this metric. ReFED is independent research, not an official federal statistic.
2015–2024 · AnnualNSF / NCSES ↗
$993b

Investment in innovation

Published February 27, 2026 ↗

How has U.S. R&D investment changed since the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted in 2015?

U.S. R&D reached an estimated $993 billion—about 3.4% of GDP—in 2024, compared with $494.5 billion and 2.7% in 2015.
R&D as a share of GDP (0–4%)
2015
2.7%
2018
2.92%
2021
3.32%
2024e
3.39%
YearTotal R&DShare of GDP
2015$494.5b2.70%
2018$603.8b2.92%
2021$788.7b3.32%
2024e$993.4b3.39%
UN SDG indicator 9.5.1 ↗ is R&D expenditure as a share of GDP. It sets no numerical U.S. target, so US Values Index reports change since 2015 rather than an “on track” judgment. Totals shown are nominal; NSF’s inflation-adjusted series should be used for real-dollar trend comparisons. 2024 is estimated and pre-2023 comparability is affected by business-survey reporting revisions.
Methodology principle

One dashboard.
Different clocks.

Every indicator uses the freshest verified observation available from a public source at the time of publication, with the source linked directly on its card. The reference period appears alongside the measure, so different metrics may have different reference periods.