Striking Down Poverty In the U.S.
Jason Ellington
Sociology
Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana
Poverty in America is at an all-time high. The U.S. Census Bureau started taking data on national poverty in 1959. They use a method which determines poverty by comparing pretax cash income against a poverty threshold dollar amount, which is adjusted for family size and composition. In 2011, according to the U.S. Census Bureau official measure, 46.2 million people, or 15.9 percent of the total U.S. population, lived in poverty (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011).
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State | Total Population - 2000 | Population in Poverty - 2000 | % of Population in Poverty - 2000 | Total Population - 2010 | Population in Poverty - 2010 | % of Population in Poverty - 2010 | Percent Change from 2000 to 2010 |
Alabama | 4 334 919 | 698 097 | 16,1% | 4 596 836 | 786 544 | 17,1% | 1,0% |
Alaska | 612 961 | 57 602 | 9,4% | 674 801 | 64 245 | 9,5% | 0,1% |
Arizona | 5 021 238 | 698 669 | 13,9% | 6 110 304 | 933 113 | 15,3% | 1,4% |
Arkansas | 2 600 117 | 411 777 | 15,8% | 2 790 794 | 502 684 | 18,0% | 2,2% |
California | 33 100 044 | 4 706 130 | 14,2% | 35 877 036 | 4 919 945 | 13,7% | -0,5% |
Colorado | 4 202 140 | 388 952 | 9,3% | 4 773 303 | 584 184 | 12,2% | 3,0% |
Connecticut | 3 300 416 | 259 514 | 7,9% | 3 434 901 | 314 306 | 9,2% | 1,3% |
Delaware | 759 117 | 69 901 | 9,2% | 856 004 | 93 857 | 11,0% | 1,8% |
District of Columbia | 541 657 | 109 500 | 20,2% | 551 331 | 101 767 | 18,5% | -1,8% |
Florida | 15 605 367 | 1 952 629 | 12,5% | 18 107 049 | 2 502 365 | 13,8% | 1,3% |
Georgia | 7 959 649 | 1 033 793 | 13,0% | 9 204 793 | 1 445 752 | 15,7% | 2,7% |
Hawaii | 1 178 795 | 126 154 | 10,7% | 1 298 918 | 124 627 | 9,6% | -1,1% |
Idaho | 1 263 205 | 148 732 | 11,8% | 1 496 581 | 203 177 | 13,6% | 1,8% |
Illinois | 12 095 961 | 1 291 958 | 10,7% | 12 439 981 | 1 572 048 | 12,6% | 2,0% |...