Slicing and dicing American poverty

Among the stats that stood out in today's Census Bureau report on income and poverty:

--Nearly one-third of the population had at least one spell of poverty lasting two or more months during the 4-year period from 2004 to 2007.

--The number of people in poverty in 2009 (43.6 million) is the largest number in the 51 years for which estimates have been published.

--For a single adult in 2009, the poverty line was $10,830 (pretax cash income); for a family of four, $22,050.

--Chronic poverty was relatively uncommon, with 2.2 percent of the population living in poverty for the entire period between 2004 and 2007.

--The median household income fell 0.7 percent, to $49,777 in 2009. More significantly, it's down 4.2 percent from 2007, before the recession.

--The poverty rate for non-Hispanic whites was 9.4 percent, for blacks 25.8 percent, for Hispanics 25.3 percent, and for Asians 12.5 percent.

--The top 20 percent of US households received 50.3 percent of pre-tax income in 2009. The bottom 40 percent got 12 percent.

--The percentage of people without health insurance increased to 16.7 percent in 2009 from 15.4 percent in 2008.

--The number of uninsured people increased to 50.7 million in 2009 from 46.3 million in 2008.

--The number of multifamily households jumped 11.6 percent from 2008 to 2010.

--The share of people age 25-34 living with their parents jumped to 13.4 percent in 2010 from 12.7 percent in 2008.