Number of Rural People in Poverty Increases
Number of Rural People in Poverty Increases
Poverty in rural America continues to be a persistent and often invisible national problem, blighting lives for generations and leaving many regions in a permanent depression. The overall number of Americans living in poverty remains at its highest level in decades. The official poverty rate for 2011, measured by the U.S. Census Bureau, was 15.0 percent. The 2011 poverty rate is statistically unchanged from the 15.1 percent level in 2010. Released today, the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual report, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2011, estimates that 46.2 million people had incomes below the poverty line in 2011, the same number as in 2010.
Additional Resources from HAC on Rural Poverty
Poverty in the United States (Map)
Poverty in Rural America (Research Note)
