Pueblog USa
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Household income and hunger
The Face of Hunger in Southern Colorado…Part 2
The Working Poor
Income and Poverty
In Pueblo
When you talk about hunger in a municipality, you need to consider the associated factors that contribute to the issue. One these factors is income. Income plays a vital role in whether a person or family can afford to purchase food for the table and influences the quality and nutritional value of the food that is brought into the house.
The median household income in Pueblo, after adjustment for inflation, has declined approximately 2.7% when compared to the year 2000. Pueblo ranks 215 of 233 metro areas when analyzing the decline in household income across the nation. This would place Pueblo in the Medium/High area of the poverty scale.
With a 3.6% increase in the poverty rate in Pueblo since the 2005 Decennial Census, one would wonder WHY Pueblo is lagging behind the rest of the state and country in regards to household income. People are working, the local unemployment rate is approximately 5.0% at this time. It would seem that a great many of those working in Pueblo are “working-poor”. I don’t have the answer, maybe you do.
Data: U.S. Census Bureau Census 2000
Decennial Census 2005
http://www.ecanned.com
http://www.bls.gov