In January and February 2016, photographer Matt Black crossed the United States by Greyhound bus, continuing his American Geography series. Tracing a route that never crossed the poverty line, he traversed 3,317 miles between Calexico, California, and Bangor, Maine, passing through 18 states and making stops in ten cities with poverty rates of above 20%.
Today, 45 million people live below the poverty line in the US, earning less than $23,850 a year for a family of four or $11,670 for an individual. Since the year 2000, the number of communities of “concentrated poverty” has doubled. On the bus, some passengers were traveling to visit family; some were crossing state lines to look for work; still others, recently released from prison or rehabilitation centers, were starting over.