The decline wasn’t just the result of an improving economy. Safety-net programs including Social Security, refundable tax credits, food stamps, and housing subsidies also helped to reduce the number of people in poverty, the Census data show. Social Security, for example, reduced the number of people in poverty by 8.15 percent last year; refundable tax credits like the EITC reduced the number of people in poverty by 2.55 percent.

This indicates that the situation of people in poverty remains precarious as Republicans in Washington and in states across the country consider restricting eligibility for these very safety-net programs. Earlier this year, Republicans proposed adding work requirements for Medicaid, a program that has been shown to decrease poverty by reducing out-of-pocket medical expenses. Many states now require that recipients of food stamps, housing, and cash assistance work or volunteer to receive such benefits. Republicans have also proposed putting every American applying for the earned-income tax credit through a mini audit before they could get their refund. “I worry that the good economic news will take away from that message that the things that we know matter for poverty are on the chopping block in D.C. right now,” Allard told me. “We are seeing lots of positive developments, but that doesn’t mean we should be cutting our safety net.”

Education continues to be an essential factor in determining whether or not Americans are living in poverty. Nearly a quarter of people without a high-school diploma were still in poverty last year, and the poverty rate for people with a high-school diploma and no college was 13.3 percent. Just 4.5 percent of people with at least a bachelor’s degree were in poverty last year.

As millions pass from below the poverty line to above it, it does not mean they find themselves in stable, prosperous economic positions. DeAndre Hawkins, 29, is a Chicago resident with just a high-school diploma who has long struggled to pay his $350 a month in rent; sometimes, he told me, he goes without food so he can have enough money for rent and bus fare. After getting laid off from a job as a hotel clerk in 2011, he strung together part-time jobs doing food deliveries and working for fast-food restaurants. It was only last year, with the help of a Chicago nonprofit, Metropolitan Family Services, that he was able to find a more stable job with a landscaping company. It’s not what he wants to do in the long run, but it’s an improvement from scraping together enough money to eat. “It’s pretty hard to find a real job where you can support your family and start a savings account,” he told me.

The declining poverty rate is closely related to Americans’ ability to earn a good wage in today’s economy, and the Census data showed that Americans’ earnings are, after more than a decade of stagnation, increasing: Median household income grew 3.2 percent between 2015 and 2016, to $59,039, the second year in a row that the figure has increased.