By Alan Johnson, The Columbus Dispatch, and staff
COLUMBUS – Ohio’s poverty rate dropped and the median household income rose last year, according to new U.S. Census Bureau reports.
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New data showed there were about 111,000 fewer people living in poverty in 2015 compared to 2014. The poverty rate dropped to 14.8 percent in 2015 from 15.8 percent, according to statistics from the American Community Surveys, a part of the census that provides in-depth state and regional information based on monthly interviews with individuals.
Significantly, nearly half of the Ohioans who escaped poverty previously were at 50 percent of the federal poverty level, which is considered deep poverty.
Nationally, poverty dropped to 14.7 percent from 15.5 percent. It was the first time the rate dropped two years in a row since the surveys were started in 2005.
Reports also showed Ohio’s median household income increased to $51,075 from from $49,340 from 2014 to 2015, a jump of 3.5 percent. Both numbers were below the 2015 U.S. median household income of $55,775, which was 3.8 percent higher than the prior year. Ohio was one of 26 states in which the median income was less than the national average.
Despite the improvement, Ohio still had 1.674 million people living below the federally established poverty level — $24,300 a year for a family of four — statistics show. That compared with 1.785 million the previous year. Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio.
The situation improved for the state’s children, as well, but 1 in 5 of them lived in poverty. The child poverty rate fell to 21.3 percent in 2015 from 22.9 percent in 2014. That represents a decrease of 43,561 but the picture is bleaker for some kids.
“The data show that our youngest Ohio children, babies, toddlers, and preschoolers are still struggling in the aftermath of the recession. One in four of our under-six population – who are in the most critical time of brain development – are poor. And over half of our Black children in this age group are poor placing Ohio at a rank of 43 out of 50,” said Renuka Mayadev, executive director of the Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio. .
Ohio’s child poverty rate ranks 33rd compared to other states and 10.3 percent of children in Ohio are in extreme poverty.
Nationally, child poverty declined from 21.1 percent in 2014 to 19.7 percent in 2015.