A city's poverty rate is the percentage of residents living below the poverty line. Poverty is a difficult subject to concretely define. When analyzing data and comparing it to national poverty standards, many individuals will be identified as above the poverty line, while the reality of their life is deep in poverty, unsure of whether they'll be able to afford rent, pay bills, and procure enough food to survive. For that reason, income cannot be the sole measure of poverty or of people's financial health. Income-based poverty metrics should be analyzed alongside other variables that account for each individual or household's context. Often there is a need for more accurate, comprehensive, and updated poverty metrics at the state and federal levels, which could provide more actionable poverty data.