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Living in poverty

Printed From: MiddletownUSA.com
Category: Outside World
Forum Name: News, Info and Happenings outside Middletown
Forum Description: It might be happening outside Middletown, but it affects us here at home.
URL: http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6180
Printed Date: Mar 19 2024 at 5:45am


Topic: Living in poverty
Posted By: Vivian Moon
Subject: Living in poverty
Date Posted: Sep 21 2015 at 1:18pm

Posted: 8:00 a.m. Monday, Sept. 21, 2015

Thousands of Butler, Warren residents living in poverty

By Amanda Seitz

Staff Writer

Fewer people in Butler and Warren counties are living in poverty compared to the national average, the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates show.

Still, an estimated 62,000 residents in the two counties live below the poverty level, the data reveals. For a single-person household the poverty threshold sits at roughly $12,000 or less in yearly income while a family of four making $24,000 or less is considered improvised, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

That means thousands of people in the county are bringing home $2,000 or less every month to feed, house and clothe their families.

Butler County’s estimated poverty rate in 2014 was 14.6 percent, slightly lower than the 14.8 percent national average. Meanwhile, Warren County had the lowest poverty rate, 4.5 percent, last year among the 39 Ohio counties surveyed. The survey only includes counties with a population of 65,000 people or more.

The median income in Butler County is an estimated $56,000 and in Warren County it’s more than $72,000 — both counties are higher than the state’s average income.

The most recent poverty data showed no significant changes from the year before, according to the federal bureau.

http://www.journal-news.com/news/news/local/povertys-spread-to-suburbs-strains-social-service-/nYfmC/" rel="nofollow - - Butler County’s poverty rate has inched up in recent years. In 2010, for example, 13.5 percent of households were living in poverty. Go back even further to 1999, and the poverty rate sat at 8.7 percent.

Lourdes Ward said many people who seek help from Reach Out Lakota, a West Chester Twp. nonprofit that sponsors programs — including a food and clothing pantry — for families who have fallen on tough times, hold hourly jobs at restaurants or local retailers. Others are elderly or have gone through sudden shock, such as job loss or a divorce, that have left them financially weakened.

She’s worked with the nonprofit for 22 years.

“The faces change but, sadly, the circumstances are similar,” she said. “I would like people to have a little more of an open mind, that hard times effect us all, it doesn’t matter your income level.”

 




Replies:
Posted By: VietVet
Date Posted: Sep 21 2015 at 2:09pm
Wonder what percentage of the total 14.6% was Middletown's contribution in 2014?

The attraction for low income seems to be evading Warren County and targeting Butler, with the primary focus being Middletown and Hamilton. How did Warren County's former burgs and cowpastures like Lebanon and Mason become so affluent in the past three decades leaving cities like Middletown and Hamilton to become totally undesirable?

Did Warren County plan ahead to position themselves to fend off the low income influx? Conversely, why did the two principal Butler County cities put out the welcome mat for this?

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I'm so proud of my hometown and what it has become. Recall 'em all. Let's start over.



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