The U.S. Census Bureau computes two different measures of poverty, the official poverty measure and the supplemental poverty measure. The infographic (printable PDF) and table below explain the different between the two measures. 
U.S. Census Bureau. Measuring America: How the U.S. Census Bureau measures poverty. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2017/demo/poverty_measure-how.html
| Poverty Measure Concepts: Official and Supplemental |
| |
Official Poverty Measure |
Supplemental Poverty Measure |
|
|
Families (individuals related by birth, marriage,
or adoption) or unrelated individuals |
Resource units (official family definition plus any coresident
unrelated children, foster children, and unmarried partners and
their relatives) or unrelated individuals (who are not otherwise
included in the family definition) |
| Poverty Threshold |
Three times the cost of a
minimum food diet in 1963
|
Based on expenditures of food, clothing, shelter, and utilities
(FCSU)
|
| Threshold Adjustments |
Vary by family size,
composition, and age of
householder
|
Vary by family size and composition, as well as geographic
adjustments for differences in housing costs by tenure
|
| Updating Thresholds |
Consumer Price Index:
all items |
5-year moving average of expenditures on FCSU |
| Resource Measure |
Gross before-tax cash income |
Sum of cash income, plus noncash benefits that resource units
can use to meet their FCSU needs, minus taxes (or plus tax
credits), minus work expenses, medical expenses, and child
support paid to another household |
Table from Fox, L. (2017). The supplemental poverty measure: 2016. Current Population Reports. Retrieved from
https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2017/demo/p60-261.pdf
