Number of U.S. Poor Varies Widely by Region, Study Says

The number of people living in poverty varies widely across the nation, ranging from the single digits throughout most of the Northeast to more than 20% in some parts of the South, the Census Bureau reports today.

Just 6.2% of the people in New Hampshire, and 7.5% of that state’s children, were in families earning below the poverty line of $16,306 for a family of four in 1996. In Mississippi, the state with the highest poverty rate, 20.8% of people live below the poverty line.

Nationally, 13.7% of Americans--and 20.5% of children--lived in poverty in 1996, according to the report being released today.

In California, 16.6% of people--25.2% of children--live below the line.

A range of factors contributes to the widespread differences among states, including a state’s median income, percentage of minorities and social program spending, said Sheldon Danziger, social work and public policy professor at the University of Michigan.

Texas, for example, has high immigration rates and a large number of racial and ethnic minorities, contributing to its below-average performance, Danziger said. Nearly 18% of all Texans and 26% of the state’s children live in poverty.

Greg Duncan, education and social policy professor at Northwestern University, says a key indicator is also education spending.

Iowa, for instance, has one of the highest levels of education spending per pupil, he said. In 1996, 12.7% of Iowa’s children lived in poverty, the sixth-lowest level in the country.

Child care advocates point to the figures to argue that government should spend more to help the poor.