Despite a relatively strong economy, the poverty rate grew in 30 percent of U.S. counties between 2016 and 2018, especially in the rural South, says an analysis of new Census Bureau estimates.
"The poverty rate is the percentage of people in households earning less than the poverty threshold, currently $25,750 for a family of four," Tim Henderson reports for Stateline. "While the overall poverty rate dropped between 2016 and 2018, from 13% to 12%, states varied widely. In New Jersey and Rhode Island, the poverty rate grew in only one county, compared with 83 in Texas."
There was no overall trend as far as the political leanings or demographics of counties that fared the worst. The rural South saw most of the biggest increases in the poverty rate because those areas generally had industries that suffered economically and residents who lacked job training and/or skills. "For many counties, rising poverty rates underscore the importance of fully counting residents in next year’s census, since a count of low-income residents will help determine funding available to help them," Henderson reports.
The poverty rate in Carter County, Kentucky, saw one of the biggest increases, rising 8.5 percentage points to 31.1%. Longtime state Sen. Robin Webb, a Democrat who lives in the county, said the problem isn't an unwillingness to work. "This is rural America. We’re rich in self-sustaining nature and neighbors helping neighbors, but we don’t have resources," she told Henderson. The county is in northeastern Kentucky, between Ashland and Morehead; its coal and factory jobs have shrunk.
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