Child poverty rates in U.S. decline slightly from 2016 to 2017 - Entrepreneur Generations

Overall 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 percentage 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. No rural data was available for Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware or the District of Columbia.

Overall child poverty rates declined the most in the West, at 1.4 percentage points. The South declined 1.1 percentage points, while the Midwest and Northeast declined a bit less at 0.8 and 0.9 percentage points, 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 percentage points, the West at 0.6 percentage points, and the Midwest at 0.3 percentage points.

"By 2017, child poverty across the nation was still 0.4 percentage point higher than before the Great Recession. 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," the report says.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2MLpihS Child poverty rates in U.S. decline slightly from 2016 to 2017 - Entrepreneur Generations

Posted by Entrepreneur Generations

Tweet