Escambia County has one out of every four children living in poverty–17,470 children, 28.1 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
A recently released brief by the U.S. Census Bureau and based on the 2009 and 2010 American Community Survey compares national- and state-level child poverty rates for all children and for children by race group and Hispanic origin for each state and the District of Columbia.
Highlights:
- More than 15 million U.S. children ages 0 to 17 lived in poverty in 2010.
- Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and the District of Columbia had child poverty rates of 25 percent or higher.
- New Hampshire had the lowest child poverty rate at 10.0 percent.
- Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Dakota, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming had child poverty rates from 12.5 to 16.5 percent.
- White and Asian children had poverty rates below the national average, while black children had the highest poverty rate at 38.2 percent.
- The poverty rate for Hispanic children was 32.3 percent, and children identified with two or more races had 22.7 percent living in poverty.
Florida had 923,963 children living in poverty in 2010– 23.5 percent. This is a 2.1 percent increase over 2009.
The rates by race in Florida:
White: 18.4
Black: 38.6
Asian: 14.1
Other 36.3
Two or more races: 22.9
Hispanic: 28.3