How to Use the poverty line in a Sentence

the poverty line

noun
  • Yet many people remain poor or live just above the poverty line.
    — Li Yuan, New York Times, 4 May 2023
  • And long ago, both were raised on the wrong side of the poverty line in the Deep South.
    — Longreads, 8 July 2025
  • Nearly one-third of student-parents live at or near the poverty line.
    — Rita Raichoudhuri, Chicago Tribune, 23 July 2025
  • More than half of their residents live below the poverty line.
    — Julie Turkewitz Federico Rios, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2023
  • And the majority of those homes are above the poverty line.
    — Desiree Mathurin, Charlotte Observer, 10 June 2026
  • Even among experts, there is little agreement on where the poverty line should fall.
    — Olivier Sterck, The Conversation, 6 Mar. 2026
  • Nearly half its children live below the poverty line.
    — Darvio Morrow, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Aug. 2025
  • More than 20 percent live below the poverty line.
    — David Peisner, Rolling Stone, 23 Oct. 2025
  • If a family is still stuck below the poverty line, the system has failed them.
    — Rachel Royster, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 Feb. 2026
  • More than a third now live below the poverty line, per the latest census data.
    — Joel Khalili, WIRED, 21 Oct. 2024
  • Nearly one in three people in the town of Aragon lives below the poverty line.
    — Charles Bethea, New Yorker, 5 Jan. 2026
  • More than a quarter of the town’s residents live below the poverty line.
    — Anita Snow, The Christian Science Monitor, 30 June 2023
  • That keeps her technically above the poverty line.
    — Teresa Ghilarducci, Forbes.com, 21 May 2026
  • Around ninety per cent of families are below the poverty line.
    — Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 2 Jan. 2026
  • Without it, millions of seniors would fall below the poverty line.
    — Michelle Singletary, Washington Post, 6 Sep. 2023
  • About 10% of households in the county live below the poverty line.
    — Shannon Pettypiece, NBC news, 22 Oct. 2024
  • Half lived below the poverty line, a sharp increase since 2021.
    — Ann Scott Tyson, Christian Science Monitor, 18 Apr. 2025
  • Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, and more than half of Haitians live below the poverty line.
    — Claretta Bellamy, NBC news, 7 June 2025
  • Even more alarming, 59% will be living below the poverty line.
    — First Place For Youth, Forbes.com, 2 Apr. 2025
  • Millions of people live below the poverty line, and wait times for public housing can be decades long.
    — Brittney Melton, NPR, 12 May 2025
  • As the richest class gets richer and more households fall below the poverty line, many are noticing a shift.
    — Shaun Goodwin, Idaho Statesman, 4 June 2024
  • Many of them grew up below the poverty line, are minorities, or former convicts.
    — Sixteen Ramos, USA TODAY, 1 Aug. 2023
  • And the other is, 85 percent of Lebanese are now below the poverty line.
    — Ellen Ioanes, Vox, 23 Sep. 2024
  • Criteria varies by state, but it is provided to households that meet or come below the poverty line.
    — Callum Sutherland, Time, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Children living below the poverty line are the most in need of a math intervention.
    — Jon Stojan, USA TODAY, 30 Aug. 2023
  • Of the schools that applied, four have a high proportion of students living at or below the poverty line.
    — Rebecca Noel, Charlotte Observer, 11 June 2026
  • More than 20% of residents live below the poverty line, the report says.
    — Hayley Smith, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2024
  • Nearly four in 10 Ivorians still live below the poverty line.
    — Alexander Onukwue, semafor.com, 22 Oct. 2025
  • The research shows there is a gap between children who live below the poverty line and those who come from wealthy families.
    — Jon Stojan, USA TODAY, 30 Aug. 2023
  • Imagine the 46 million or more people in this country who live on or below the poverty line.
    — Andrea Wurzburger, People.com, 5 Jan. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'the poverty line.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: