Poverty Grows, Opportunity Declines – North Carolina’s poverty rate climbs as lawmakers fail to focus on job creation

September 2011

KEY FINDINGS:

• North Carolina’s poverty rate jumped to 17.5 percent in 2010 from 16.3 percent the year before. The poverty rate increased 22 percent from 2007, the beginning of the Great Recession. Nearly 1.6 million North Carolinians were officially in poverty in 2010, and more than 728,000 were living in deep poverty.
• The poverty rate for children in North Carolina climbed to 24.9 percent from 19.5 percent in 2007, while the poverty rate for seniors fell slightly from 11 percent to 9.9 percent.
• People of color were also more likely to experience poverty in 2010. Approximately 1 in 4 African‐Americans in the state were living in poverty while 1 in 3 Latinos lived in poverty.
• Median household income fell by 12.3 percent to $43,326 in 2010.