99% of poor families in the United States have a refrigerator.
Posted by The Daily Show: Ears Edition, Checked
- Sources
- 5 support2 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 70%
The Daily Show: Ears EditionAug 28, 2026
The claim is supported: the 2026 BLS research paper reports 98% of poor households have refrigerators, and a 2026 Heritage report says fewer than 1% of poor households lack one, so the figure is close to 99%.
A played clip makes this claim. Listeners heard it, so it counts against the post.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… You're not being mean to poor people today. I am. I am being mean to poor people, frankly, I am. Many poor families have homes with cable TVs, cell phones, computers, you name it, much, much more. 99% of them have a refrigerator. 81% have a microwave. You're going to give us the emotional side of the story: people need 15 dollars per hour to live on, they're starving without it. Okay, I got that. …
The Daily Show: Ears Edition · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. A 2026 BLS research paper on poverty reports that almost all poor households have access to refrigerators, at 98 percent versus 99.5 percent for nonpoor households.[1]
Supports. A 2026 Heritage Foundation report states that among the poor today, less than one percent lack a refrigerator, which implies about 99% or more have one.[2]
Supports. Heritage's 2011 analysis of government energy survey data (2005) reports 99.7% of poor households have a refrigerator, and secondary coverage cites 99.6% and 99%.[3][4][5]
Context. The 98% BLS figure is slightly below 99%, and the Heritage figures rely on a different survey and earlier data year. The gap is within rounding and does not reverse the claim's magnitude.[1][3]
Context. The claim restates a figure first circulated in 2011 by Heritage and repeated in the post; the post's own words are the claimant's, not evidence.[6][7]
Sources
7 sources: 1 primary, 6 not rated
- 1What Does it Mean to be Poor in America?bls.gov · primary source · cited for: supports, context
- 2How "Poor" are America's Poor?heritage.org · not rated · cited for: supports
- 3Poverty in the United States: Air Conditioning, Cable TV and an Xboxstatic.heritage.org · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 4Embarrassment Of Richesinvestors.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 5Fox Cites Ownership Of Appliances To Downplay Hardship Of Poverty In Americamediamatters.org · not rated · cited for: supports
- 6Jon Stewart on 'the Poors': Fridges & Microwaves & TVs, Oh My!sojo.net · not rated · cited for: context
- 7The Colbert Report : COM : July 27, 2011 7:25pm-8:00pm PDTarchive.org · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post