Blog Posts > US Census Data Shows Poverty Rate on the Rise in WV
September 18, 2014

US Census Data Shows Poverty Rate on the Rise in WV

Charleston Daily Mail – More West Virginians continue to live in poverty, according to new U.S. Census data released this morning. Read

About 18.5 percent of West Virginians lived below the poverty line in 2013, according to the American Community Survey created by the U.S. Census. That’s an increase from the 17.8 percent figure recorded in 2012 and nearly as high as the highest rate recorded in the last five years, 18.6 percent in 2011.

More than a quarter of all West Virginia children lived in poverty in 2013, with nearly a third of children 5 years old or younger living under the poverty line. That means almost 98,000 children in the state are living in poverty — one of the highest rates in the country, according to the left-leaning think tank West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.

“We do not have to live in persistent poverty in West Virginia,” said Ted Boettner, executive director of the center in the news release.

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