WHERE ARE THE RURAL POOR? 25% live in the Midwest STATESTATS 7% live in the Northeast A Different Landscape: Rural Poverty in America 14.5% live in the West Images of poverty are typically portrayed with an urban backdrop of run-down public housing units, neglected inner city schools and dilapidated concrete playgrounds. But recently, legislators have intensified their discussions about poverty in a different landscape—rural America. Rural communities struggle not only with isolation and remoteness, Source: Ohio State University Extension 33% live in the South but a significantly older and declining population and citizens with less education and income. Poverty rates for rural Americans are consistently higher than those in urban areas, 14 percent compared with 10 percent in INDICATORS OF POVERTY 2000: 1999. Some 35.6 million people lived below the poverty line in RURAL VS. URBAN 1999—7.4 million of them in rural areas. A new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows that Social and economic indicators related to poverty of the 200 “persistently poor” counties in the United States show rural poor families are worse off (those with continuous poverty rates of 30 percent or higher), than those living in cities. 195 are rural. Rural Urban On average, rural residents are less educated and poorer than Total Population (millions) 59.2 222.3 their metropolitan counterparts. Rural workers are twice as Median Household Income $32,837 $44,984 likely to make only minimum wage and more likely to be Per Capita Income $17,510 $23,470 working yet still poor. Poverty Rate (percent) 13.4% 10.8% Poverty rates for children in rural areas are higher than rates Poverty Rate by Age (percent) for urban children as well, according to the 2000 Census. Rural 0-17 18.9% 15.4% children are also more likely to be exposed to substance abuse 18-64 11.1% 10.2% and face a lack of health care. Rural poverty also tends to be 65 and older 13.2% 10.2% more persistent and longer term than that found in cities. Households at Risk for Hunger 11.5% 10.2% Children in Households at Risk for Hunger 20.6% 17.4% DEFINING POVERTY Source: United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, September 2002. he poverty line is the minimum income necessary for a Tfamily to meet basic needs, such as food, shelter, cloth- CHILD POVERTY RATE ing and other essentials. The Office of Management and Budget sets the official poverty lines and adjusts for family (Less than 100% of poverty level) 40 size. The poverty rate for an area or for a category of people is the percentage of people with income less than the 30 poverty line. Source: Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 20 December 2000. Percent 10 0 All Black Hispanic Non-Hispanic White Source: U.S. Census, 2000 Rural Metro.