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%.
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