Confronting
Poverty

Tools for Understanding
Economic Hardship and Risk

Risk CalculatorHave you ever wondered what your risk of poverty might be in the future? Estimate your personal risk and compare it to other Americans. Get started > Musical Chairs of PovertyA labor market simulator allows you to analyze the gap between the number of job seekers versus the number of livable wage jobs over the past 20 years. Get started > Discussion GuideLearn more about poverty with our discussion guide. Different modules are designed to further your understanding. Read more > Facts and MythsThis section confronts some of the most common poverty and inequality myths with research evidence. Learn more >
This project provides a set of tools for learning more about poverty and inequality in the United States. Join the hundreds of thousands of visitors from over 200 countries who have explored the website. We hope that you are able to use these tools to create a positive change in confronting and addressing poverty.

This website and all of the accompanying text is authored by Mark R. Rank, the Herbert S. Hadley Professor of Social Welfare at Washington University in St. Louis.

For a brief TED style talk on understanding poverty as an issue of “us” rather than “them,” click here.