I just want to point out that the referenced article about the federal poverty level (guidelines, etc, various words being used in the regs) makes it seem like the value is calculated each year based on taking the food budget and multiplying by 3. In reality, it did that in 1965, and has been adjusted by the CPI since then. In doing so, it changes the relative weight of everything as that changes in the CPI basket.

The value the article comes up with (he says like $130,000) is more like the living wage, which might be a good target. The living wage for Bergen County, NJ, is calculated to be $145k for a family of 4 with 2 working parents, and about $100k for the same family without childcare expenses (1 working parent).

https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/34003

I am not sure what counts as poor in reality. Obviously the federal poverty guideline is pretty low. It can't really make sense as a contiguous-48-states guideline for the purpose of feeling "not poor". The calculated living wage is above the median household income for most areas. I have not heard a serious proposal for increasing the median (or, preferably, the 30th %ile) income up to the living wage. I reckon that most proposals that involve the government sound too much like communism for the average American voter.

But we could bring the living wage down to the median. We could make housing cheap, reduce our health care costs, and reduce the childcare component.