Poverty in Bucks County almost doubles

Posted by on December 11, 2011

[posted from United Way’s What Matters newsletter]

Poverty in Bucks County almost doubles: census

Bucks County saw Southeastern Pennsylvania’s highest percentage-point increase in the number of people living in poverty last year, thanks to high unemployment, scarce jobs and the rising cost of living.

In 2009, 3.4 percent of the population in Bucks County, or 21,572 people, lived below the federal poverty level, according to the US Census. Last year, that number had grown to 37,830 people, or 6.2 percent of the population.  That’s a 2.7-point increase, the highest in all of the five Greater Philadelphia counties, and the second-highest numerical increase after Philadelphia.

In Montgomery County, the poverty rate increased from 5.4 percent in 2009 – representing 40,800 residents –  to 5.5 percent, or 42,773 residents, in 2010.

The federal poverty rate is $22,350 for a family of four.

Marianne Bellesorte, senior director of policy for PathWays PA, told phillyburbs.com that there’s no one reason behind the increase.

“I wish I could give you a very easy answer, that it’s one we can fix,” she said. Instead, it’s a combination of increased unemployment, the difficulty of finding new jobs and the increasing cost of food, health care, child care and other expenses that families living on the brink of poverty can barely afford, she said.

In both Bucks and Montgomery counties, more than half of the people living in poverty are female, census data show.