Nearly 8 Million Americans Below Poverty Line Since Summer

REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson Some 7.8 million Americans fell into poverty between June and November, per a new report by researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of Notre Dame.

In order to fall below the federal poverty line, one has to have an income at or below $12,000 or $26,200 for a family of four.

The five-month spike is the largest jump in a single year since the US government began tracking poverty 60 years ago, The Washington Post reported.