New York (City)’s Poverty Rate Rises, Study Finds

[alp227]

Source: NY Times

The number of New Yorkers classified as poor in 2010 increased by nearly 100,000 from the year before, raising the poverty rate by 1.3 percentage points to 21 percent — the highest level and the largest year-to-year increase since the city adopted a more detailed definition of poverty in 2005.

The recession and the sluggish recovery have taken a particularly harsh toll on children, with more than one in four under 18 living in poverty, according to an analysis by the city’s Center for Economic Opportunity that will be released on Tuesday.

Families with children were also vulnerable. They had a poverty rate of 23 percent, and a significant number of households were struggling to remain above the poverty line. Even families with two full-time earners were more likely to be considered poor in 2010; their ranks swelled by 1.3 percentage points to 5 percent compared with 2009.

By the city measure, more than 1.7 million residents were poor in 2010, the last year for which an analysis could be calculated.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/17/nyregion/new-york-citys-poverty-rate-reaches-highest-level-since-2005.html

[fasttense]

1. There is something wrong when almost a quarter of the population of a city is in poverty.

I bet if they did a study of rural areas, especially Appalachia, more than a quarter of the population is in poverty.

[4th law of robotics]

2. $30,000

for a 2 adult 2 child family (according to the city, lower for the feds). I would have put it higher with the cost of living in NYC.

/also they say that the city puts the poverty level at 8k higher than the feds but the federal government had a *lower* estimate of poverty rates. That seems backwards. Unless the benefits cited account for substantially more than 8,000 per year per family, which again seems high.