Topics: Economics and Personal Finances, Socioeconomic Class. 1  Richard Fry is a senior researcher focusing on economics and education at Pew Research Center. 2  Rakesh Kochhar is an associate director of research at Pew Research Center.
In the United States, the Census Bureau determines who is poor using an economic poverty measure, by calculating official poverty estimates using a set of dollar-value thresholds, or minimum amount of income needed to meet basic needs, that vary by family size and composition.
Programs that decrease the cost of healthful food sold at schools and workplaces have helped change people's habits. This lack of access to high quality, reasonably priced fruits and vegetables and other healthful foods has been associated with poorer diets and, in many cases, higher risk for obesity.This is especially true among lower-income individuals whose purchasing habits are more sensitive to the cost of food.onvenience stores and corner shops, which provide limited access to fruits and vegetables, low-or non-fat dairy products and whole-grain breads are in many cases the only place to purchase food. All too often the fresh produce sold at these small stores is of poor quality and expensive.