Poverty rates lowest in NH
New Hampshire will hold onto its bragging rights as the state with the lowest poverty rate in the country, with Rockingham County helping to lead the way.
The U.S. Census Bureau released its 2007 report on income, poverty and health insurance coverage yesterday. But despite New Hampshire’s high ranking, the outlook isn’t that rosy, according to state officials.
Overall, New Hampshire’s poverty rate ranked the lowest in the nation at 7.1 percent. Rockingham County also made the list of 10 counties in the country with the lowest poverty rates. Just 4.1 percent of the county’s population lives below the poverty level.
That county list only included those with populations of more than 250,000, and it was not possible to rank them numerically from 1 to 10 because statistically they were too similar, according to Kirby Posey, a U.S. Census Bureau spokesman.
The rankings come as no surprise, according to Ben Amsden, an economist with the Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau, part of the New Hampshire Department of Employment Security.
“New Hampshire typically turns up at the top of these lists for a couple of reasons,” he said, mentioning the state’s proximity to Boston and the “unique mix of rural, suburban and urban opportunities in the southern part of the state.”
“In terms of Rockingham County,” he added, “it’s more of the same with Portsmouth, the shipyard, and people coming through on vacation” helping to boost the local economy.
But these are 2007 numbers, and the economic downturn, which has just started to hit the Granite State, is not adequately reflected, Amsden said.
New Hampshire is also one of a handful of states making inroads by reducing the poverty level. Although that’s something to celebrate, the poverty rate is still too high, said Ellen Fineberg, executive director of the Children’s Alliance of New Hampshire.
Nationwide, the rate is 12.5 percent, with 37.3 million people living in poverty. Although statistically, the rate is virtually unchanged from a year ago, the number of poor children has climbed from 12.8 million last year to 13.3 million.
The children’s poverty rate also grew from 17.4 percent to 18 percent.
“The poverty level is still unacceptable,” she said. “We’re a small state, and we need to increase our effort to eliminate poverty altogether.”
New Hampshire’s poverty rate of 7.9 percent for children was the lowest in the nation but still higher than the 7.1 rate for the general population.
“What that says is probably more women and children are living in poverty than the population in general, and that’s a very distressing piece of information in that the children are our future,” she said.
Mary Ann Cooney, deputy commissioner for the state Department of Health and Human Services, said her agency does not track the number of children living in poverty, but the staff is seeing their caseloads increase as the economy has sputtered.
“People get distracted by the fact that New Hampshire typically and historically ranks high on income, census and poverty data, and that data doesn’t often show the details,” she said.
Cooney also said that even though New Hampshire’s median household income is high, the cost of living is also increasing with fuel, food and clothing prices on the rise.
The findings also show median incomes in New Hampshire and several other New England states are among the highest in the country.
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island all had median household incomes above the U.S. median.
Massachusetts was also one of five Northeast states, and the only New England state besides Maine, where real median household income increased in 2007. Nationwide, household income rose in 33 states.
Only one state — Michigan — experienced a decline. Massachusetts also ranked high among states with the most people covered by health insurance.