Poverty in Vermont remains a challenge since the economic recession, despite persistent improvements in the overall unemployment rate. The disparity is replicated nationwide, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Poverty rates are estimates based on surveys of sample population. They’re not hard and fast numbers, so they come with margins of error. Technically, Vermont’s overall poverty rate in 2012, according to the American Community Survey’s one-year estimates, could have been anywhere between 11 and 12.6 percent.
Thanks to a median household income of nearly $53,000, Vermont places 40th in the country for the lowest rate of poverty. Yearly income in 2012 was down close to $1,000 from the year before, which could be partly why the poverty rate inched up three-tenths of a percent from 11.5 in 2011.
Vermonters’ experiences of the economy are varied and even disparate, according to age, education level, gender and race, among other characteristics, as the charts below illustrate.
The federal poverty level does not capture the full breadth of income disparities, because it does not account for certain types of income such as capital gains. It also is calculated pre-tax, meaning that neither income taxes nor tax credits are taken into account. An alternative measure of poverty that attempts a deeper comparison will be released later in fall 2013.
Age
More than 18,000 young people in Vermont live below the federal poverty level — a marked increase since 2007. A much more steady poverty rate is shown for people aged 65 and older.
Education
It is perhaps not surprising for individuals with higher levels of education are more likely to weather economic storms, but it appears to have become significantly harder for adults without a high school education to keep their heads above water financially. About a quarter more adults without a diploma now live in poverty, compared to 2007.
Gender
Overall, the poverty rate for women has stayed consistently higher than that of men since 2007. Female poverty especially increased between 2008 and 2009, and has begun to taper off slowly.
