July 19, 2025

Four PBS Frontline Documentaries on Poverty in America

Frontline’s investigative documentaries cover a wide range of issues in both the United States and worldwide. Since they began in 1983, they’ve produced over 800 documentaries. Many of these documentaries are now available on the PBS Frontline website and on YouTube. We link to over 250 of these documentaries on LearnOutLoud, which you can browse here:

Browse Over 250 Frontline PBS Documentaries on LearnOutLoud.com

Today, we’re highlighting four of these documentaries that cover poverty in America. Over 35 million Americans live below the poverty line, making up over 10% of the population. These documentaries feature personal stories of people living in poverty and the challenges they face.

1. Two American Families

To make this documentary, journalist Bill Moyers checked in on two middle-class American families in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for over two decades. Following the parents and their kids, this documentary shows their struggle to stay alive financially against an economy that is perpetually failing the working class. As wages stay stagnant over the decades, the cost of everything seems to rise, as these families struggle to pay their home payments, bills, healthcare, credit card debt, and more. Through it all, both families are resilient in the face of overwhelming financial stress. Both families are also remarkably honest about their financial situations, and you get to know them well on their emotional rollercoaster through the contemporary American economy.

2. Poor Kids

The documentary Poor Kids follows around three families as they struggle financially in 2012, and then follows up with them again in 2017 to see how they’re doing. The film is shown through the eyes of the kids in the family and how they view their situations and cope with growing up poor. As the parents struggle to pay the bills, get food, and find where they’re going to sleep at night, the kids have dreams of making more money in their future. Statistics on child poverty are shown throughout the documentary, with over 10 million kids living in poverty. The day-to-day struggles of the kids and parents in this documentary bring this reality home.

3. Growing Up Poor In America

This documentary takes a look at three families as they struggle with poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. It’s from the director of the documentary Poor Kids, and once again follows a kid from each of the families as they express the difficulties of living in poverty. All three families are in Ohio, and they deal with the emotional distress of being poor during the time of the coronavirus. The parents struggle to keep working, pay the bills, and keep their children’s education going. The kids struggle with what to do when they can’t see their friends. It’s a reminder of this challenging year in recent history, particularly for those living in poverty.

4. Left Behind America

This documentary takes a look at poverty in America through the lens of one of its cities: Dayton, Ohio. It takes a look at the history of what was once a bustling economic town that has since the 1980s lost its manufacturing base, and where over 30 percent of its residents now live in poverty. Along with economic hardship after the 2008 financial crisis, Dayton was also hit hard by the opioid epidemic. In this documentary, Dayton residents are interviewed about their financial and employment situation. Despite many of them working full-time jobs, they still struggle to make ends meet due to low wages and often need assistance. There are some signs of hope in the city, and the documentary highlights those as well.

Learn about this important social and political issue with these well-made documentaries from Frontline.