The poverty rate is the ratio of the number of people whose income falls below the poverty line. they also can  place poverty in certain classifications like child poverty ages 0-17, working age poverty ages 18-65, and elderly poverty ages 66 years old or more. poverty in america is a very hard subject because most Americans feel that they are middle class. Most Americans won't admit they don't have food to eat or they can't pay their bills.They want to put up a front that they are part of the middle class, and are average citizens.