Child poverty more common in rural areas

Child poverty is disproportionately more likely to occur in rural areas of the U.S. according to researchers at the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire. The institute conducts research about vulnerable children, youth, families and sustainable community development. In their study, researchers found that 81 percent of counties experiencing persistent child poverty are non-metropolitan. (Carsey map)

Authors used census data from 1980, 1990 and 2000 and American Community Survey five-year estimates between 2005 and 2009 to identify counties with persistent child poverty. These are places where poverty rates over 20 percent have been consistent for 40 years, such as Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, the Great Plains and parts of the Southeast and Southwest. The disparities between rural and urban areas are great: 26 percent of rural children live in counties with persistent poverty compared to 12 percent of urban children. This research also reveals the number of counties experiencing child poverty greater than 30 percent rose from 484 between 2005 and 2007 to 556 between 2008 and 2009.

The researchers document high unemployment, low educational attainment and physical and social isolation as contributing to high rates of rural poverty, and suggest these factors create problems much different than those faced in densely populated urban areas. They also suggest that urban focus of welfare programs shifts policy makers' attention away from needy families in rural areas. To read their brief, click here.