According to a research note published by the Housing Assistance Council (HAC), 10 million people across rural America live below the poverty line. This amounts to 16.3% of the rural population, and exceeds the U.S. poverty rate of 13.8%. Almost one-quarter of all people in poverty reside in rural communities. The research note compiles data findings from the 2010 American Community Survey (ACS).
Rural poverty remains highest across the South, where 19.3% of rural residents live in poverty. Southern rural poverty greatly exceeds the rate of rural poverty in the Northeast (12.9%), Midwest (13.6%), and West (15.4%). Nearly 730,000 rural residents live in poverty across Texas, the state with the largest absolute number of poor rural residents.
Overall, minorities in rural areas experience poverty at a higher rate than minority groups nationwide. Poverty is especially high among rural African-Americans (34%) and Native Americans (30%). The poverty rate for minorities in rural areas is 28.7%, twice the rate among White rural residents. However, White residents make up a sizeable portion of all rural persons living in poverty (63%).
The incidence of rural poverty is also especially high among children and women. The poverty rate among children under 18 is 22%, and the poverty rate for rural women is 18%. Most strikingly, 45% of rural single-parent families headed by women live in poverty.
Persistent poverty remains a major issue across rural America. The number of counties with persistent poverty rose 8% since 2000. Counties with persistent poverty had poverty rates of above 20% in 1990, 2000 and 2010. Communities with persistent poverty are clustered in the Mississippi Delta, the Southern Black Belt, the colonias near the Mexican border, and Central Appalachia. In total, 21 million people live in persistently poor counties, and nearly 60% of residents are minorities.
The Rural Research note can be accessed on HAC’s website (PDF).
HAC held a webinar on June 28 to discuss these new research findings. The presentation is available online, along with a new map which shows poverty data at the county level. The map also highlights regions across the United States with persistent poverty, and overall poverty rates in the United States over time. The map and spreadsheets with the associated data are all available on the HAC website.