Poverty
Press release: Poverty rate jumps 20% since 2007
Nearly 2 million people in Michigan lived in poverty in 2010, with the poverty rate jumping 20 percent since the country slid into the Great Recession, new census data shows.
Overall, 16.8 percent in Michigan lived in poverty last year, up from 14 percent in 2007 before the latest recession. African Americans in Michigan experienced double the poverty rate with 33.9 percent living in poverty last year.
Child poverty also grew to 23.5 percent in 2010, up from 22.5 percent the previous year and 19.4 percent in 2007. In Detroit, more than half of the children – 53.6 percent – lived in poverty last year. Sept. 22, 2011
