Standard of living in the United States, poverty afflicts millions of people.

Despite the relatively high average standard of living in the United States, poverty afflicts millions of people. There are now almost 40 million poor people in the United States̶12.3 percent of the population (Proctor, Semega, and Kollar 2018).
Even more startling is the large number of people living in very deep poverty, or what experts define as extreme poverty (the U.S. measure being living on two dollars or less per day; the world measure of extreme poverty is $1.25 per day or less; see also Chapter 9). Extreme poverty in the United States includes 3.5 million children who are living with virtually no income̶ a shocking fact for such a rich nation (Shaefer and Edin 2014).
Poverty deprives people of basic human needs̶ food, shelter, and safety from harm. It is also the basis for many of our
nationʼs most intractable social problems. Failures in the education system; crime and violence; inadequate housing and homelessness; poor health care̶ all are related to poverty. Who is poor, and why is there so much poverty in an otherwise affluent society?