# Poverty data in 1950 census sample

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/poverty-data-in-1950-census-sample/706>\
**Category:** USA\
**Created:** [November 11, 2014, 10:15pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/poverty-data-in-1950-census-sample/706 "2014-11-11T22:15:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cwarshaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@cwarshaw](https://forum.ipums.org/u/cwarshaw)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 10:15pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/poverty-data-in-1950-census-sample/706/1 "2014-11-11T22:15:00Z")

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Hi,

I’m trying to calculate the percentage of people in each state that were below the poverty line in 1950. It seems like the 1950 1% sample available through iPums-USA is the best source of data on this. However, I’m getting confusing results. When I look at the micro-data, it appears that only 10% of the people in 1950 were at or below the poverty level. However, this article suggests that 40% of the population in 1950 was below the poverty rate ([http://www.cepr.net/documents/publica…](http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/poverty-2011-09.pdf)). Is there something obvious I’m doing wrong? Perhaps I should subset the data to heads of households?

Thanks,

Chris

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**Author:** ![grover](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.ipums.org/grover/32/5_2.png) [@grover](https://forum.ipums.org/u/grover)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 3:36pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/poverty-data-in-1950-census-sample/706/2 "2014-11-12T15:36:00Z")

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This is likely related to the fact that in the 1950 Decennial Census income information was only requested of [“Sample-Line” individuals](https://usa.ipums.org/usa/intro.shtml#sampleline). When examining variables from the smaller, sample-line population you should use the [SLWT](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/SLWT#description_section) weight variable for representative estimates of the national population. Variables that require the SLWT weight will note that the universe is composed of Sample-Line individuals in the [Universe tab](https://usa.ipums.org/usa-action/variables/INCTOT#universe_section).

I hope that helps.