Numbers, Numbers, Numbers: 2009 American Community Survey Data

The Census Bureau has recently released a lot of new statistics and numbers on poverty, hunger, health coverage, and income. The Bureau has compiled a handy-dandy press release with the most important numbers about the Nation here. If you click over and read, you'll find out:

• Real median household income in the United States fell between 2008 and 2009 — decreasing by 2.9 percent from $51,726 to $50,221.
• Between 2008 and 2009, real median household income decreased in 34 states and increased in one: North Dakota.

• Thirty-one states saw increases in both the number and percentage of people in poverty between 2008 and 2009 and no state had a statistically significant decline in either the number in poverty or the poverty rate.
• Nationwide, nearly two in five renter households (42.5 percent) experienced housing costs that consumed 35 percent or more of their incomes.

These numbers quantify rising poverty rates, and they can be useful for presentations, flyers, reports, and websites. The number of people in poverty in your county (and how it compares to others) can be found in this PDF document located here.

Thanks for all you do to help keep the numbers of people in poverty low!