Rural poverty rate dips to pre-pandemic levels
Aided by surging household incomes, the poverty rate in rural America fell to 13.5 percent, the lowest since 2019 and the second-lowest in two decades, said the Census Bureau on Tuesday. Rural conditions improved far more rapidly than did the country overall, according to the annual measurements of poverty and income.
Ten and done, says midwestern Democrat in House
Approaching her 60th birthday, Illinois Rep. Cheri Bustos, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, announced she will retire in 2022 after 10 years in the House. "It will be a new decade and I feel it's time for a new voice," said Bustos. Her decision also reflected the shrinking influence of the farm and industrial heartland in the House.
Coronavirus bill offers aid as food insecurity eases
Although in the latest Pulse survey from the Census Bureau, fewer people said they didn't have enough food to eat in the past week, hardship rates remain very high, said the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on Wednesday.
Rural poverty rate is 3.3 points higher than in town
The poverty gap between rural and metropolitan areas was just as wide in 2019 as the year before, said the Census Bureau on Tuesday. Poverty rates declined across the board last year, but analysts said the pandemic has made the improvements meaningless with the country now in a deep recession.
After record-low rate in 2019, hunger more than doubles in pandemic
Nearly 4 percent of U.S. households sometimes or often did not have enough to eat in 2019, including 5 million children, according to the USDA. Although those numbers are significant, they are the lowest on record since the USDA’s Economic Research Service began tracking these statistics in 1998. But by August of this year, those numbers had more than doubled.
Poverty rate returns to pre-recession level in rural America
After cresting at 17.7 percent during the slow recovery from the Great Recession, the rural poverty rate is back at pre-recession levels, said the Census Bureau on Tuesday. But the growth in household income that accompanied four years of declines in the poverty rate nationwide has slowed, …
Most ‘hard-to-count’ counties in U.S. census are in rural areas
The bulk of “hard-to-count” counties for the upcoming 2020 census — 251 out of the total of 316 counties that qualify — are in rural America, according to a briefing paper from the Carsey School of Public Policy in New Hampshire.
Rural population growth fueled by foreign-born residents
The population of rural America grew just one-tenth of the national total of 3.1 percent from 2010 to 2015, and foreign-born residents accounted for three-fourths of the rural gain, says the Daily Yonder.
Does rising rural poverty signal a longer-term decline?
One-third of rural counties have a poverty rate above 20 percent, a dramatic increase since 2000 that is unlikely to cured by the slow, post-recession economic recovery, says a report by the Carsey School of Public Policy. "The consistent increases in poverty rates in rural counties suggest that rural areas are facing a longer-term decline in economic conditions."
Poverty rate, at 12.7 percent, finally sinks to pre-recession level
The U.S. poverty rate fell for the second year in a row and, after years of slow economic recovery, it is back to pre-recession levels, the Census Bureau said in an annual report. The nationwide poverty rate for 2016 was 12.7 percent, down by 0.8 points from the previous year; the rural poverty rate – consistently above the urban rate – was 15.8 percent, down by 0.9 points.
Rural population drops for fifth year in a row, a record
The recession of 2008–09 “continues to reverberate in rural America and is the most likely cause of a slight decline in population from 2005–16,” says the Daily Yonder. It was a record fifth consecutive year of decline.
Poverty not so bad in rural America, says a different Census report
Rural America is in better economic shape than the Census Bureau said in its annual report on income and poverty, says the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The think tank says rural and urban America enjoyed a decline in poverty and a rise in household incomes during 2015, according to a Census report issued two days after the bureau painted a picture of diverging conditions.
Poverty rate falls nationally but not in rural areas
The U.S. poverty rate fell to 13.5 percent, down by 1.2 points from the previous year and the largest one-year decline since 1968, says the Census Bureau. But in rural areas, there was no significant change, with 16.7 percent of rural Americans living in poverty.
Farmers go wireless
When they want to go on the Web, farmers are moving firmly to wireless and satellite connections and leaving behind the traditional terrestrial line, according to a biennial USDA report.
Farming is among occupations with widest gender gap in pay
Farming and ranching have one of the largest pay gaps between men and women, says the Chicago Tribune, based on data from the Census Bureau.
Rural counties lose population, just barely this time
"Rural America continued to lose population last year," says the Carsey School of Public Policy, after perusing the new Census Bureau report on domestic migration.
Low-income children now a majority in public schools-Study
"Low income students are now a majority of the schoolchildren attending the nation's public schools," said the Southern Education Foundation in a research bulletin. "In 40 of the 50 states, low income students comprised no less than 40 percent of all public schoolchildren. In 21 states, children eligible for free or reduced-price lunches were a majority of the students in 2013." The South and the West accounted for most of the states where low-income children were the majority of school enrollment.
Rural areas trail cities on college degrees
Far more urban residents hold college degrees than do rural Americans - 32 percent vs 18.5 percent, says an article in USDA's Amber Waves magazine. The urban-rural gap widened by 2 points since 2000, according to Census Bureau data.