Leadership1 publisher3 min readPublished
Poverty among Americans over 65 rose faster than any other age group since 2020
New Census figures put the adjusted poverty rate for the 65-and-over at 15.4%, up from 9.4% in 2020. The prices behind the move are medical bills and residential care, and both run through working-age households too.
The Board Room · Leadership desk
What happened
- New Census data, adjusted for tax credits and government programs, puts the poverty rate for Americans 65 and older at 15.4% in 2025, up from 9.4% in 2020, the largest increase of any age group.
- The adjusted rate for Americans of all ages rose from 9.1% to 13.1% over the same five years, after the 2020 pandemic relief measures that had held older households up ran their course.
- Social Security kept 28.8 million Americans out of poverty in 2025, including nearly 21 million people aged 65 and over.
Compiled by The Board RoomSomething wrong?How this is made
Why it matters
- exposure Once an older relative's savings are gone, the person picking up the care bill is usually an adult child in the middle of their earning years, so the cost moves from a retiree's budget into a working household's.
- constraint Paid work is the fallback within reach, but the oldest workers interviewed found minimum-wage jobs that covered groceries and heating. Employment at that wage cannot repair a six-figure care bill.
- decision Because Social Security carries most of the anti-poverty effect for this group, a change to benefit levels or Medicare premiums moves the over-65 poverty rate further than any private benefits design will.
- contradiction The age-by-age finding that puts the steepest increase at ages 70 to 74 comes from the official poverty measure, while the headline increase uses the adjusted one, so the two results do not rest on the same basis.
Six percentage points separate the over-65 rate in 2020 from the 2025 figure [1]. The national increase over the same five years was four points [2]. So the older increase ran half again as large as the national one [3], and a group that sat 0.3 points above the all-ages rate in 2020 now sits 2.3 points above it [4].
CareScout puts the median annual cost of a private nursing home room at $130,000 in 2025, up from $111,000 in 2022 [10]. That is $19,000 in three years, about 17% [5]. Dozens of families told Business Insider they had spent six figures on care for a relative [11], and some said the relative's savings ran out on home health aides or assisted living, which left them in the hands of their financially pressed children [12].
Roughly a third of the people the Census report counts as pushed below the line by medical expenses were 65 or older [6], an increase of about 140,000 on 2024 [7]. Housing is a separate strain. More than one in three older American households puts 30% or more of its income toward housing, according to a 2025 study from Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies [13]. About 20% of all people experiencing homelessness were 55 or older as of 2024, and older Americans are the fastest-growing group in that population [14].
Nearly three-quarters of the people Social Security kept above the poverty line in 2025 were 65 or older [8]. Business Insider reports that millions of older Americans live solely off those benefits, which often do not cover daily costs, let alone Medicare premiums or caregiving expenses [21].
So they work. Business Insider interviewed dozens of Americans 80 and older at or just above the poverty line last year, and most worked at least part time [15]. Many said the only jobs they could find were minimum wage and menial, paying enough to put food on the table and heat their homes [16]. "We should get tax breaks after a certain age because prices are so high for food," said Rebecca Reed, 88, who works two lower-paying jobs in New Orleans [17]. Sharon Albrecht, 85, works for a home healthcare agency and drives part time for Uber in Virginia [18]. "If an 80+ person has the attitude that 'Now, I have time to create,' the sky is the limit," Albrecht said [19].
The link between these figures and a payroll comes from the interviews, not the tables. What the interviews describe is a worker past 80 taking a minimum-wage shift [15], and an adult child paying for a parent's care once the savings are gone [12]. The second is the one that reaches an employer, because a child of an 85-year-old is usually still earning, and the sum in question is a six-figure care bill [11]. Some of the people interviewed said they had saved much more earlier in life and were hit hard by medical treatments [22]. Business Insider dates the reversal to the expiry of the 2020 pandemic relief measures that had held the rate down [4].
What to watch
- Whether the next Census release extends the 70-to-74 increase from the official measure into the adjusted one, which would place the fastest deterioration at the ages nearest retirement.
- Any legislated change to Social Security payment levels or Medicare premiums, given how much of the older poverty rate rests on that single transfer.
- CareScout's next pricing round for private nursing home rooms, after a $19,000 rise in three years.