PRESS RELEASE: October 13, 2011
Dr. Robert Carreira
Director, Center for Economic Research
Cochise College
901 N. Colombo Ave.
Sierra Vista, AZ 85635
Poverty in Cochise County
According to data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, collected over the 5-year period from 2005 to 2009, 16.3 percent of Cochise County residents live below the poverty level, compared to 14.7 percent statewide and 13.5 percent nationally. Of families, 12.5 percent live below the poverty level, compared to 10.5 percent statewide and 9.9 percent nationally.
The share of children in poverty in Cochise County is also higher than state and national figures, with 23.1 percent of children under 18 years old living in poverty, compared to 20.8 percent statewide and 18.6 percent nationally. At the family level, 19.6 percent of families in Cochise County with children under 18 years old live in poverty, compared to 16.3 percent statewide and 15.3 percent nationally. Of families with children under 5 years old, 19.5 percent live in poverty in Cochise County compared to 17 percent statewide and 16.6 percent nationally.
Households led by single moms are considerably more likely to live below the poverty line. From 2005 to 2009, 41.3 percent of households in Cochise County led by single moms lived below the poverty line. Of single-mom families, 57.1 percent of those with children under 5 years old live in poverty. In Cochise County, 6.7 percent of households are led by single moms, compared to 7.2 percent statewide and 7.3 percent nationally.
Of all families in Cochise County, married couple families are least likely to be in poverty (7.1 percent), especially those with children under 5 years old (3.3 percent). Single-mom households with small children are more than 17 times as likely to be in poverty as married couple families with small children. Part of the reason may be the disparity in earnings between men and women. In Cochise County, female full-time, year-round workers earned 70 cents to the dollar earned by male workers from 2005 to 2009, compared to 83 cents to the dollar statewide and 78 cents to the dollar nationally.
The elderly are more likely to live in poverty in Cochise County than statewide or nationwide. The ACS shows 11.7 percent of Cochise County residents ages 65 and over live below the poverty line, compared to 8.5 percent statewide and 9.8 percent nationally.
About 2.5 percent of Cochise County households received cash public assistance income from 2005 to 2009, compared to 2.1 percent statewide and 2.4 percent nationally. A larger share received food stamps or assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, with 11.2 percent of Cochise County households receiving benefits, compared to 7.9 percent statewide and 8.5 percent nationally.
Part of the reason for the higher poverty levels in Cochise County is lower levels of education. From 2005 to 2009, 21.6 percent of Cochise County residents at least 25 years old had earned a 4-year college degree, compared to 25.7 percent in all of Arizona and 27.5 percent nationwide.
Compounding the problem of poverty in Cochise County is a lack of affordable housing, rental housing in particular. From 2005 to 2009, 31.6 percent of homeowners paid 30 percent or more of their income toward housing costs—the common threshold above which housing is considered to be not affordable. For renters, 46.5 percent paid more than 30 percent of their income for housing.
While poverty rates in Cochise County are higher than state and national averages, poverty isn't evenly distributed within the county. Residents of the border areas of Douglas, Pirtleville, and Naco are more than twice as likely as residents countywide to live below the poverty line. Cochise County's two largest cities are Sierra Vista and Douglas, yet a resident of Douglas is more than four and half times as likely as a resident of Sierra Vista to live in poverty.
Of Cochise County's cities, towns, and major unincorporated areas, residents of Sierra Vista, Whetstone, Huachuca City, St. David, and the Hereford area are less likely to live in poverty, while residents of Douglas, Bisbee, Benson, Tombstone, Willcox, Naco, and Pirtleville are more likely.
| POVERTY IN COCHISE COUNTY | |
| Place | Individuals Living in Poverty (%) |
| Cochise County | 16.3 |
| Benson | 18.8 |
| Bisbee | 23.5 |
| Douglas | 36.3 |
| Huachuca City | 12.8 |
| Sierra Vista | 8.0 |
| Tombstone | 24.7 |
| Willcox | 23.4 |
| Naco | 34.3 |
| Pirtleville | 38.7 |
| Hereford area | 12.0 |
| St. David | 15.7 |
| Whetstone | 11.4 |
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2005-2009 American Community Survey | |
No comments:
Post a Comment