Census data shows an overall increase in poverty numbers, but this 'near poor' category worries researchers. (U.S. Census Bureau)

After redefining measures of poverty earlier this month, the Census is releasing data suggesting one in three Americans is either impoverished or in "the fretful zone" just above the poverty line, The New York Times reported.

Bureau officials said the numbers took them by surprise, redrawing the lines between rich and poor in America.

Outside the bureau, skeptics of the new measure warned that the phrase “near poor” — a common term, but not one the government officially uses — may suggest more hardship than most families in this income level experience. A family of four can fall into this range, adjusted for regional living costs, with an income of up to $25,500 in rural North Dakota or $51,000 in Silicon Valley.

“It’s very consistent with everything we’ve been hearing in the last few years about families’ struggle, earnings not keeping up for the bottom half,” said Sheila Zedlewski, a researcher at the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan economic and social research group.

The Times went on to quote economist Bruce Meyer from the University of Chicago.

“I do think this is a better measure, but I wouldn’t say that 100 million people are on the edge of starvation or anything close to that,” Mr. Meyer said.

But Ms. Zedlewski said the seeming ordinariness of these families is part of the point. “There are a lot of low-income Americans struggling to make ends meet, and we don’t pay enough attention to them,” she said.

Regardless of how much weight is attached to the statistics themselves, The Times pointed out the Census' findings are indicative of the under-acknowledged economic stress that burdens the country's lower brackets.

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