If a family falls below ____, they are considered to be living in poverty.

The federal government tracks poverty levels among the population of the United States primarily through data collected every ten years as part of the census. That data is used by the U.S. Department of Human and Human Services to draw a relatively accurate picture of the number of Americans living below the poverty line. That line is adjusted over time to account for normal inflationary factors and is also not a single line that answers the student’s question. The size of a family must be known in order to determine whether it falls below the poverty line. Attached below are links to both the Department of Human Services website and to that of the U.S. Census Bureau. Both provide data that members of the public can use to determine whether certain families are officially (for the purposes of the provision of welfare benefits) living in poverty.
In order, then, to provide an answer to the question— “if a family falls below ______ they are considered to be living in poverty”—one must know the size of the family. How many adults and children reside on the property obviously differs greatly among families. Therefore, one must consult the tables provided in the government websites linked below to answer the question. Additionally, for families living in Alaska and Hawaii, the data is adjusted to compensate for the unique socioeconomic characteristics of those two states. What the data provided in the Department of Health and Human Services shows is that the federal government considers a family of two to be living below the poverty line if its aggregate annual income is $16,460, $20,780 for a family of three, $25,100 for a family of four, and so on.
https://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty-guidelines