Ten Black Belt counties are the poorest counties in Alabama, according to statistics released by a poverty advocacy group this week.
Alabama Possible issued their newest Barriers to Prosperity report on Wednesday, December 17. The report, which compiles statistics from numerous public sources, shows Alabama is the seventh poorest state in America.
The findings show that Alabama’s poverty rate, the percent of persons or families whose cash income is below the federal poverty threshold as calculated by the Census Bureau, is 15.7%, compared to the national rate of 12.5%. More than one in five (21.3%) of Alabama’s children live in poverty, compared to 16% of children nationally.
The report finds that more than 780,000 Alabamians, including 236,000 children, live at or below the poverty level. The poverty level ranges from $15,480 income for one person up to $31,200 for a family of four.
Alabama’s median income is $62,248, compared to the U.S. median income of $77,719.
The poverty rate varies by demographic. A little more than 11% of white Alabamians live at or below the poverty line. The poverty rate for black Alabamians is 25.1%, and for Hispanics the rate is 24.6%. This is the first year that the poverty rate for Hispanics is less than the poverty rate for blacks, according to Mae Whiting of Alabama Possible.
Of Alabama’s 67 counties, 10 have a poverty rate of 25.5% or higher. All ten counties are in the Black Belt.
Perry County has the state’s highest poverty rate at 33.8%. The poverty rate is 33.5% in Sumter County, 32.7% in Wilcox County, 31.4% in Dallas County, and 29.4% in Lowndes County. Marengo County has 23.5% living in poverty, and in Montgomery the rate is 18.3%.
Greene, Macon, Bullock, Barbour, and Conecuh counties also have poverty rates of 25.5% or higher. The state’s lowest poverty rates are found in Shelby County, with 8.4%, and Limestone County with 8.6%.
The report also calculates food insecurity, which is defined as multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake or reduced quality of diet. Whiting said those statistics will be harder to obtain soon because the federal government has stopped collecting some of that data.
33.8% of the residents of Perry County live with food insecurity.
