81% of poor families in the United States have a microwave.
Posted by The Daily Show: Ears Edition, Checked
- Sources
- 3 contradict3 support1 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 50%
The Daily Show: Ears EditionAug 28, 2026
The 81% figure matches a 2011 Heritage Foundation analysis of government consumption data (81.4% in Investors.com's report of that study), but other Heritage-based estimates in the sources give 89% and 92%, and none of the sources measure current (2026) microwave ownership.
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 image we have of poor people as starving and living in squalor really is not accurate. …
The Daily Show: Ears Edition · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. Other Heritage-based estimates in the sources give higher microwave ownership among poor households: 89% in a 2007 analysis and 92% in a 2011 paper and a 2014 summary of Heritage's work.[2][3][4]
Supports. Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation, as quoted on Fox News in July 2011, said 81% of poor families have a microwave, and Investors.com's 2011 editorial reports 81.4% of poor households own microwaves.[5][6][7]
Context. Media Matters notes that the Fox figures came from a 6-year-old consumption survey, so the numbers were already dated when reported in 2011. No source gives microwave ownership for poor families in 2026.[5]
Context. The Census poverty data tables are the official source for poverty statistics, but the sources provided do not include appliance-ownership figures from them.[1]
Sources
7 sources: 1 primary, 6 not rated
- 1Poverty Data Tablescensus.gov · primary source · cited for: context
- 2Strange Facts about America’s ‘Poor’heritage.org · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 3[PDF] How Poor Are America's Poor? Examining the “Plague” of Poverty in ...policyarchive.org · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 4Heritage Foundation: America's poor actually live pretty durn well!latimes.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 5Fox Cites Ownership Of Appliances To Downplay Hardship Of Poverty In Americamediamatters.org · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 6According To FOX News If You Have A Refrigerator You're Rich!youtube.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 7Embarrassment Of Richesinvestors.com · not rated · cited for: supports
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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