America's Poverty Rate Stuck At 15 Percent For Second Straight Year

The U.S. poverty rate was essentially unchanged at 15 percent in 2012, as roughly 46.5 million people were stuck living at or below the poverty line, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday. This marks the second straight year that both the poverty rate and total number of people living in poverty were stuck at their current levels.
From the Associated Press:

"It was the sixth straight year that the poverty rate had failed to improve, hurt by persistently high levels of unemployment after the housing bust."

Here's the long-term view of America's poverty problem, in chart form:

Many additional measures of poverty and inequality were largely unchanged last year. Here's more from the U.S. Census Bureau:
- Income: "Median household income in the United States in 2012 was $51,017, not statistically different in real terms from the 2011 median of $51,100. This followed two consecutive annual declines."
As the Wall Street Journal's David Wessel points out, that's significantly lower than it was in the late 1990s, once adjusted for rising prices: