Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Census maps show county-level poverty rates for school-age children

From 2007 to 2013, the poverty rate of school-age children rose in 928 counties, fell in 15 counties and "remains above pre-recession levels in nearly 30 percent of the nation’s 3,140 counties," according to recently released Census Bureau data, Niraj Chokshi reports for The Washington Post.

Rates are highest in the South and West, with 972 counties above the national average, Choksi writes. More than 80 percent of counties in New Mexico and Mississippi "had rates statistically above the national average, and in 15 percent of school districts nationally, the poverty rate for school-age children is above 30 percent."

"Nearly the same number of counties—902—had school-age child poverty rates statistically below the national average, according to the Census," Choksi writes. "In Connecticut, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island and Wyoming, more than 4 in 5 counties had rates statistically lower than the nation as a whole."

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