US Census: Poverty rate in Mass. increased in 2010

September 22, 2011

The poverty rate in Massachusetts inched upward last year as the state struggled to emerge from the recent recession.

New data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau showed the overall poverty rate in Massachusetts rose from 10.3 percent in 2009 to 11.4 percent in 2010. It had remained relatively stable for the prior three years.

In 2007, the year the Great Recession began, the state’s poverty level stood at 9.9 percent.

Nationwide, the poverty rate rose from 14.3 percent in 2009 to 15.3 percent in 2010.

Despite the increase, Massachusetts continued to rank among the 10 states with the lowest poverty levels, according to an analysis of the census data by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, a Boston-based research group.

The rate of poverty among children under age 18 also rose in Massachusetts in 2010, from 13.1 percent in 2009 to 14.3 percent in 2010.

Nationwide, the childhood poverty rate rose from 20 percent to 21.6 percent.

About 750,000 Massachusetts residents lived in households that fell below the federal poverty threshold last year, according to the budget and policy center.

The census also included sobering news about how much Massachusetts families were earning last year.

The median household income in Massachusetts fell by nearly $3,200, or 4.9 percent, according to census data, from $65,254 in 2009 to $62,072 in 2010.