- Poverty rate is up in New York City, and income gap is wide, census data show, By Sam Roberts, September 19, 2013, New York Times: “Bill de Blasio’s path to the Democratic nomination for mayor was built in large part around his theme that New York has become a tale of two cities. New data being released on Thursday by the Census Bureau lend support to that argument, showing that even as the recession has ended, the city’s poverty rate continues to inch up and the gap between the rich and poor remains stubbornly large…”
- Poverty kept rising in Los Angeles after downturn, new data show, By Gale Holland and Emily Alpert, September 18, 2013, Los Angeles Times: “Poverty continued creeping upward in the Los Angeles area last year, long after the declared end of the recession, new estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show. The numbers are another sign of continued suffering after the economic downturn: More than 17% of people in the Los Angeles, Long Beach and Santa Ana metropolitan area lived below the poverty line last year…”
- Poverty dips in city, but need for food stamps rises, By Alfred Lubrano and John Duchneskie, September 19, 2013, Philadelphia Inquirer: “The poverty rate in Philadelphia fell last year while the need for food stamps grew, a seeming paradox teased out by the widely respected American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census. What it means, experts say, is that the economy may be yielding low-wage jobs that lift some people out of poverty, but ultimately the jobs don’t pay enough to feed their families…”
- Poverty worsens in city limits, but unemployment improves, By Emily Bregel, September 19, 2013, Arizona Daily Star: “Tucson’s poverty rates remained among the nation’s highest last year, with 1 in 5 living below the poverty threshold. Pima County’s poverty rate held steady in 2012 at 20 percent, compared with 20.4 percent the year before, said the American Community Survey, released today. The survey is an annual report from the U.S. Census Bureau including statistics on poverty, education and labor at the local level…”
- Census report: Public assistance rose in Rhode Island in 2012, By Paul Edward Parker, September 19, 2013, Providence Journal: “In a sign that the state’s economy is still in the doldrums, more Rhode Islanders relied on cash public assistance, food stamps and Social Security’s Supplemental Security Income last year than the year before, according to new Census Bureau figures…”
- Census shows Mainers hurting economically, By Kelley Bouchard, September 19, 2013, Portland Press Herald: “Maine’s population is older and slightly more racially diverse than it was five years ago, but Mainers are still struggling financially and more likely to be living in poverty, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics released Thursday…”
- Virginia’s median household income takes hit, census data indicate, By Carol Morello, Jim Tankersley and Ted Mellnik, September 18, 2013, Washington Post: “Virginia’s median household income fell more than 2 percent last year, the most significant drop in the country at a time when most states saw their incomes go flat, according to Census Bureau figures. Several economists said the declining figure is the result of budget cutting in Washington that rippled across the state even before the sequestration-mandated cuts took effect this year…”
- Census figures: Poverty rate, household income appear to stabilize in Metro Detroit, By Khalil AlHajal, September 19, 2013, MLive: “U.S. Census Bureau statistics released today show no significant change in Metro Detroit’s median household income and poverty rate from 2011 to 2012. But that could be a good thing. Those numbers had been steadily worsening over the prior several years, and appear to have leveled…”
- Milwaukee poverty a regional problem, Mayor Tom Barrett says, By Bill Glauber and Kevin Crowe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “To Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, the city’s long fight against poverty isn’t just a local problem — it’s a regional one that needs a regional solution. ‘You have politicians who say that it’s a Milwaukee problem,’ Barrett said in the wake of new U.S. Census Bureau figures that show Milwaukee is among the nation’s most impoverished big cities. ‘The problem is we have focused and concentrated the vast majority of low-income people in the city of Milwaukee and then we say it’s a Milwaukee problem.’ Nearly a third of the city’s residents, including four in 10 children, lived in poverty in 2012, according to the census estimates released Thursday…”
- Declining income, rising poverty plague SC economy, By Kristy Eppley Rupon, September 19, 2013, The State: “South Carolinians were better off at the turn of the century than they are today, according to a new report released Thursday. It finds the state’s residents bring home less money in their paychecks and more are living in poverty than in 2000. Also, fewer have health insurance compared with five years ago, according to the U.S. Census’ American Community Survey…”
- Food stamp rise belies economic recovery, By Greg Toppo and Paul Overberg, September 19, 2013, USA Today: “At the bustling weekly Sunday farmers’ market here, $7 buys a gallon of freshly pressed apple cider, $10 a wedge of award-winning goat cheese. Eight kinds of melons spill over one farmer’s table, while another overflows with organic kale, collard greens and purple heirloom tomatoes. If there was ever a sign of post-recession abundance and prosperity in the USA, this would be it…”
- Census shows poverty is rising in Kentucky, By Chris Kenning, September 19, 2013, Louisville Courier-Journal: “Brianna Fletcher thought she was doing everything right. She had a job in hotel housekeeping, was enrolled at Sullivan University and was raising her 2-year-old son, Brandon. But her low wages couldn’t cover her rent, food, diapers and bus passes. Then she was laid off and lost her apartment, and at age 25, she found herself moving to a homeless shelter…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty