America’s poverty rate remained flat in 2007 as median household income edged upward, according to annual census data released yesterday. The median household income reached $50,233 in 2007, with an increase of 1.3 percent from 2006.
The census report says that the median household income rose slightly to $50,200. Washington was the only state in the Northwest to exceed the national median, with an increase of $1,442 or 2.6 percent; the median income rose to $55,591 in 2007.
The Census Bureau found about 12.5 percent of the population (37.3 million people) fell below the official federal poverty threshold in 2007, a figure that was not statistically different from the 12.3 percent of 2006. The number of children in poverty increased by 500,000, to 13.3 million.
The national report showed the number of people without health insurance declined to 45.7 million from last year’s record 47 million. The number of people with health insurance increased from 249.8 million to 253.4 million. The decrease in the number of people without health insurance was attributed to the programmes of government-sponsored health insurance, such as Medicaid, or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Detroit is the poorest large city in the country, according to the report. The number of poor people in Detroit grew slightly, from 32.5% in 2006 to 33.8% in 2007.
There are 1,377,000 people living below the federal poverty line in Michigan, including 8% of those under age 18 and 7.8 percent of those under age 65 or over. The median income for a household in the city was $46,261, and the median income for a family was $54,895. Males had a median income of $41,449 versus $28,095 for females.
The survey showed that in Detroit, Pontiac and Flint nearly half of the children are poor.
In Washington, the poverty rate fell from 11.8 percent in 2006 to 11.4 percent in 2007. In Washington there were 725 people living below the federal poverty line, which is defined as $20,650 for a household of four. Men in Washington earned a median of $50,269 in 2007 and women had a median income of $37,454, 74.5 percent of men’s earnings.
About 11 percent of the Massachusetts’ residents (707,000 people) lived below the poverty line.
Other findings suggest there is a constant difference between urban and suburban life. As an example, the survey showed city residents had a median income of $57,903 in Washington’s metropolitan areas, compared to a median income of $44,314 in smaller communities and $39,487 in rural areas.
The report found Maryland, with an estimated median income of $68,080, was the state with the nation’s highest median household income in 2007.
The number of people under 65 insured by government-funded health insurance increased by more than 2 million to 48.6 million, according to the analysis by officials at the University of Minnesota.
“You have mixed news here mirroring the mixed news in the economy last year,” the Washington Post quoted Rebecca Blank, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, as saying. “But I think it is quite reasonable to say 2007 was a peak year. And still, median income is slightly below the 2000 level, poverty is higher, and child poverty is way up. You have a cycle here that was very sluggish.”
Blacks had the lowest median household income in the country, $33,916. Incomes stayed flat for Hispanics and Asians. Whites had a median income of $54,920, compared with $66,103 for Asians.
