Child poverty rates in U.S. decline slightly, even less in rural

Child poverty in the United States declined by 1.1 percentage points between 2016 and 2017, though rates in rural areas declined only 0.7 points, according to a report by the University of New Hampshire's Carsey School of Public Policy. Nationwide, 18.4 percent of children still live in poverty; in rural areas it's 22.8 percent.

The states with the highest rural poverty rates were in the South and Southwest: Arizona with 38 percent, South Carolina with 34.4, Louisiana with 32.7, New Mexico with 31.1, Mississippi with 30.7, and Florida with 30 percent. Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware had no rural data.

Child poverty rates declined the most in the West, at 1.4 percentage points. The South declined 1.1 points, while the Midwest and Northeast declined 0.8 and 0.9, respectively. But when only rural areas are considered, the South declined the most at 1.5 percentage points, followed by the Northeast at 1.1 points, the West at 0.6 and the Midwest at 0.3.

"By 2017, child poverty across the nation was still 0.4 percentage point higher than before the Great Recession," the report says. "Child poverty remained higher in cities and rural places than in the suburbs. For the first time, rates in cities dipped below the pre-recession level, although poverty is still slightly higher in rural and suburban places than in 2007."