Issue 47       

October 2016  

In this month's issue...
New Poverty Data Show Increase in Poverty for Young Children Locally
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Last month the Census Bureau released the one-year 2015 American Community Survey estimates, including poverty data for the City of Tulsa and Tulsa County. Although both estimated poverty rates and numbers for children under 6 have climbed from last year's estimates (with the exception of Tulsa's poverty rate, which remained stable), and all remain higher than pre-recession levels, none of the 2015 levels reach peak poverty levels experienced during the recession.

It is important to note that in about 70% of poor families, one or more people are employed. However, employment, even full-time, cannot guarantee an escape from poverty or an assurance of self-sufficiency. An employed person earning minimum wage at a 40-hour/week, year-round job in Oklahoma lives at 76% of the poverty level, and at 34% of self-sufficiency level, for a family of three. Only if this person worked two full-time, minimum wage jobs, or had just one job paying twice the minimum wage, plus another family member had a full time, minimum wage job, would this family of three just reach the income required to live self-sufficiently at a basic needs level. Many Tulsa area children live in these families.

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Poverty Rates 
  • Young children are the most vulnerable population group when it comes to suffering from poverty and near poverty. Over a third of Tulsa's children under 6 and over a quarter of the county's live in households that earn below the poverty level, which is equivalent to annual earnings of $20,160 for a family of three in 2016.
  • Poverty rate estimates for children under 6 increased from 33% to 36% in the city of Tulsa, and from 24% to 28% in Tulsa County from 2014 to 2015.
  • In the Tulsa area, 200% of poverty serves as a reasonable and conservative estimation of self-sufficiency level for families, meaning that in order to live self-sufficiently without public or private assistance, a family must earn at least the equivalent of 200% of poverty, which equals $40,320 for a family of three.
  • Six out of ten young children in Tulsa - unchanged from 2014, and over half in the county - up from 48% in 2014, live in households that earn less than 200% of poverty.


 
Number Living Below 100% and 200% of Poverty
  • According to 2015 American Community Survey estimates, the number of children under age 6 living below the poverty level rose to 12,301 in Tulsa, up 16% from 2014, and to 15,400 in Tulsa County, up 19% from 2014.
  • Tulsa is home to an estimated 21,458 children under age 6 living below 200% of poverty, up 7% from previous year, while an estimated 28,542 young Tulsa County children live below this level of poverty, up 10% from 2014 estimates.


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