The poverty rate among older adults 65 and older is the highest among all age groups and has risen for five straight years, a Sept. 15 AARP Foundation analysis found.
The analysis is based on 2025 data released by the Census Bureau and uses the bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, which accounts for, which takes government benefits, taxes and cost of living into account.
Here is what to know.
1. In 2025, 17.2 million adults 50 and older lived in poverty.
2. Adults 50 to 64 had the lowest poverty rates of all age groups at 12.1% in 2025. That year, roughly 1 in 8 adults ages 50-64 was living in poverty.
3. Adults 65 and older had a poverty rate of 15.4% in 2025, up from 9.4% in 2020.
4. Women over 65 had higher poverty rates than men, at 16.8% compared with 13.7%.
5. Across all ages and genders, the poverty rate dropped in 2020 and has since gradually inclined.
