WASHINGTON – The nation’s poverty rate remained stuck at a record level last year, while household income dropped and the number of people who have health insurance rose.

A Census Bureau report released Wednesday provided a mixed picture of the economic well-being of U.S. households for 2011 as the nation enters the final phase of a presidential election campaign in which the economy is the No. 1 issue.

The overall poverty rate stood at 15 percent, statistically unchanged from the 15.1 percent rate previously. Experts had expected a rise in the poverty rate for the fourth straight year, but unemployment benefits and modest job gains helped stave that off, the bureau reported. For last year, the official poverty line was an annual income of $23,021 for a family of four.