U.S. poverty rate hits 15%

The nation's poverty rate increased to 15.1 percent in 2010, the Census Bureau said Tuesday in a report that was no surprise to groups that help Virginians feeling the impact of the recession.

About 46.2 million people lived in poverty in 2010, up from 43.6 million, or 14.3 percent, in 2009, the report said.

Those numbers include about one in nine Virginians, or 10.7 percent of the population, who are "the latest evidence of how families have been struggling" because of the recession, said Michael J. Cassidy, president of the Richmond-based Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis.

The report also found declining income: The real median household income in 2010 was $49,445 nationally, a 2.3 percent decline from the 2009 median.

Households maintained by naturalized citizens had the highest income ($52,642) in 2010, followed by native-born households ($50,288), and noncitizen households ($36,401), the report said.

For a family of four, the federal poverty threshold for 2010 was $22,314.

The total number of people with incomes below the threshold represented the fourth consecutive annual increase and the largest count in the 52 years that poverty estimates have been published, the Census Bureau said.

The rise is also the third consecutive annual increase in the poverty rate, which has increased by 2.6 percentage points since 2007. The 2010 rate is the highest since 1993.

The Census Bureau report is troubling news for Virginia, Cassidy said, because the state faces an $800 million revenue shortfall for the next budget biennium and has a jobs gap that stands at 287,700.

"To me, this sounds the alarm," John Moeser, senior fellow at the University of Richmond's Bonner Center for Civic Engagement, said of the report. "Our most vulnerable population has borne the brunt of the recession."

Moeser, who studies poverty in the Richmond region, said he fears the national findings will be mirrored locally when the Census Bureau releases more detailed state data later this month.

The poverty rate in the city now is 23 percent, nearly double the rate for the region. But he expects to see growth in poverty in the inner suburbs of the counties, where lower-income people "looking desperately for affordable housing" are moving.

Ongoing budget cuts will further threaten programs that aid the poor as more people need help, challenging one of our "most fundamental values (that) we are a caring nation," Moeser said. "The question facing the United States is do we leave them stranded?"

The answer will "ultimately wind up on the front door of localities," he said.

Already, groups actively trying to meet increased needs are feeling the impact, he said.

"It's been a real tough summer for people in Richmond," said Fay Lohr, president and CEO for FeedMore, the umbrella organization that includes the Central Virginia Food Bank.

Her organization has given out 38 percent more food this summer than last, she said. Normally, demand increases in summer when parents seek help with meals their children would receive at school.

But this summer brought a dramatic increase in calls, Lohr said, especially after power outages caused by Hurricane Irene took a toll in spoiled food.

Even before Irene, the numbers were up. This July and August, more than 3 million pounds of food was distributed, said Rick Holzbach, director of procurement and distribution for FeedMore.

That's an increase of 844,956 pounds over the same period last year, and "that was pre-Irene," he said.

Other findings from the Census Bureau report:

• The poverty rate for non-Hispanic whites increased to 9.9 percent in 2010 from 9.4 percent in 2009. It increased to 27.4 percent from 25.8 percent for blacks; for Hispanics, it increased to 26.6 percent from 25.3 percent. The 2010 rate for Asians, at 12.1 percent, was not statistically different.

• The poverty rate for children younger than 18 increased to 22 percent from 20.7 percent.

• Since 2007, real median household income has declined for all age groups except the group age 65 and older. Households with people age 15 to 24 had the largest income decline at 15.3 percent.

• The poverty rate and the number in poverty increased for married-couple families (6.2 percent and 3.6 million in 2010 from 5.8 percent and 3.4 million in 2009).

• The poverty rate also increased for households headed by a female with no husband (31.6 percent and 4.7 million in 2010 from 29.9 percent and 4.4 million in 2009).