Working poor families in America
Over 60 million Americans live in working families that struggle to survive on low wages.
Every day, millions of Americans in working families feel the impact of a federal minimum wage that hasn’t been increased since 2007. The wage, set at $7.25 an hour by Congress seven years ago, has a ripple effect on the incomes of millions of low-wage workers throughout the economy, and takes a serious toll on the economic security of workers and the people who depend on them: children, partners, siblings, and aging parents.
In early 2014, Oxfam America and the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) examined Census Bureau data about low-wage workers in all 435 Congressional districts (and the District of Columbia) and the 50 states. We found that 25 million workers would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage, and created an interactive map of the US.
We followed up this initial study by examining the total population of people living in households that depend on the earnings of low-wage workers. We found that more than 60 million people live in families that are struggling to survive on low wages, including more than 15 million children.
See where the highest concentrations of low-wage workers are and how your district ranks on our interactive map.