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Bureau of Labor Statistics > Price and Index Number Research > Price research data > Research Poverty Thresholds

2017 and 2018 Supplemental Poverty Measure Threshold Changes After CE Reprocessing

Consumer Expenditure Interview Survey (CE) data were reprocessed after the publication of the 2017 and 2018 SPM thresholds. Thresholds and threshold shares based on the reprocessed data differ from those published in the SPM threshold spreadsheet posted on the main BLS SPM webpage; only the published thresholds and shares are used by the Census Bureau for SPM poverty rates and related statistics. For users attempting to recreate the 2017 or 2018 SPM thresholds and shares, they will only be able to reproduce the reprocessed results. The thresholds with standard errors, standard errors of differences in published versus reprocessed thresholds, and thresholds shares after reprocessing are presented in Tables 1 to 3, respectively. For 2017, SPM thresholds for Owners with mortgages increased by $2 with reprocessing, Owners without mortgage increased by $24, and Renters decreased by $18. For 2018, SPM thresholds for Owners with mortgages decreased by $2 with the reprocessing, Owners without mortgage decreased by $1, and Renters decreased by $2. As seen in Table 2, there are no statistically significant differences between the published and reprocessed thresholds for 2017 and 2018 for any of the housing tenure types. Table 3 showcases the threshold shares for the reprocessed and published SPM thresholds for 2017 and 2018. After reprocessing, there are no changes in threshold shares for 2018, while for 2017 there are marginal changes in threshold shares for Owners without mortgages.

**Table 1: BLS Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) Published vs Reprocessed: 2017 and 2018**
Thresholds¹	2017 Reprocessed	2017 Published	2018 Reprocessed	2018 Published
SPM Owners with mortgages	$27,087	$27,085	$28,342	$28,344
Standard error	$267	$276	$329	$329
SPM Owners without mortgages	$23,285	$23,261	$24,173	$24,174
Standard error	$473	$471	$424	$424
SPM Renters	$26,987	$27,005	$28,166	$28,168
Standard error	$258	$263	$253	$253
¹Source: The 2017 SPM thresholds are based on CE Interview data from 2013Q2-2018Q1 and 2018 SPM thresholds are based on CE Interview data from 2014Q2-2019Q1. Quarterly expenditures are updated to threshold year dollars using the U.S. City Annual Average All Items CPI-U. Thresholds are based on out-of-pocket expenditures for food, clothing, shelter and utilities (FCSU) including repayment of mortgage principal for owner occupied housing.

**Table 2: SPM Published vs Reprocessed Statistical Differences: 2017 and 2018**
	2017			2018
Statistic¹	DIFF	SE_DIFF	Z_STAT	DIFF	SE_DIFF	Z_STAT
spm_wtm	2.313	28.650	0.081	-1.886	2.633	-0.716
spm_wtom	23.964	90.149	0.265	-1.628	29.455	-0.055
spm_rent	-18.249	20.411	-0.894	-1.895	6.512	-0.291
¹Source: The 2017 SPM thresholds are based on CE Interview data from 2013Q2-2018Q1 and 2018 SPM thresholds are based on CE Interview data from 2014Q2-2019Q1. Quarterly expenditures are updated to threshold year dollars using the U.S. City Annual Average All Items CPI-U. Thresholds are based on out-of-pocket expenditures for food, clothing, shelter and utilities (FCSU) including repayment of mortgage principal for owner occupied housing.

**Table 3: SPM Threshold Shares Published vs Reprocessed: 2017 and 2018**
Thresholds¹	2017 Reprocessed	2017 Published	2018 Reprocessed	2018 Published
SPM Owners with mortgages
Food	0.294	0.294	0.295	0.295
Clothing	0.041	0.041	0.042	0.042
Shelter	0.334	0.334	0.339	0.339
Utilities	0.167	0.167	0.161	0.161
Other	0.164	0.164	0.163	0.163
SPM Owners without mortgages
Food	0.342	0.343	0.346	0.346
Clothing	0.047	0.048	0.049	0.049
Shelter	0.194	0.194	0.184	0.184
Utilities	0.227	0.225	0.229	0.229
Other	0.190	0.191	0.191	0.191
SPM Renters
Food	0.295	0.295	0.297	0.297
Clothing	0.041	0.041	0.042	0.042
Shelter	0.365	0.365	0.364	0.364
Utilities	0.135	0.135	0.133	0.133
Other	0.164	0.164	0.164	0.164
¹Source: The 2017 SPM thresholds are based on CE Interview data from 2013Q2-2018Q1 and 2018 SPM thresholds are based on CE Interview data from 2014Q2-2019Q1. Quarterly expenditures are updated to threshold year dollars using the U.S. City Annual Average All Items CPI-U. Thresholds are based on out-of-pocket expenditures for food, clothing, shelter and utilities (FCSU) including repayment of mortgage principal for owner occupied housing.

Last Modified Date: July 12, 2022