Crisis, Chronic, and Churning: An Analysis of Varying Poverty Experiences

Ashley Edwards, U.S. Census Bureau

This analysis investigates how much variation exists in the frequency of poverty spell occurrences across demographic groups, and uses clustering techniques to categorize poverty experiences based on both the total time spent in poverty as well as the number of poverty spells experienced. I find variation in the frequency of poverty spell occurrences across demographic groups, and find that individuals categorized using crisis, chronic, and churning classifications vary across a number of demographic characteristics, as well as in the events associated with their transitions both into and out of poverty. I also find variation in the magnitude of transition events across the crisis, chronic, and churning populations as measured by the arc percent change in individuals income-to-poverty ratio when entering or exiting a poverty spell.