United Way of Utah County - Community Assessment


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		Poverty Poverty Rate Child Poverty Rate Poor Children Free School Lunches Participation in Labor Force Housing Wage >>Back to the main Community Assessment page Poverty Rate Utah County has a poverty rate of 10.10%, slightly higher than Utah’s rate of 10%, which is second lowest in the country. Utah has the second lowest poverty rate in the nation at approximately 10% (Maryland has the lowest at 7.2%). However, 213,244 people (92,016 are children) in Utah are poor. Source: “Poverty In Utah 2001,” Utah Issues: Center for Poverty Research and Action >>Back to top Child Poverty Rate Utah has a significantly lower child poverty rate than the national average. Furthermore, child poverty rates at both the state and national levels have been in steady decline since the early 1990’s. Percent of Children in Poverty is the share of children under age 18 who live in families with incomes below the U.S. poverty threshold, as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. The federal poverty definition consists of a series of thresholds based on family size and composition. In 2000, the poverty threshold for a family of two adults and two children was $17,463. Poverty status is not determined for people in military barracks, institutional quarters, or for unrelated individuals under age 15 (such as foster children). Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates Program, data accessed online at www.census.gov/hhes/www/saipe.html (July 15, 2004). >>Back to top Poor Children 18% of the poor in Utah are children under the age of 5 and 40% of the poor are children under the age of 18. Of Utah’s 92,016 poor children, almost 60,000 of them live in working families. Source: “Poverty In Utah 2001,” Utah Issues: Center for Poverty Research and Action >>Back to top Free School Lunches 28% of the statewide school enrollment qualified for free or reduced lunch. Source: “Poverty In Utah 2001,” Utah Issues: Center for Poverty Research and Action >>Back to top Participation in Labor Force More Utahns of both sexes and most ages participate in the labor force than in other states and Utahns are also more likely than the national average to hold more than one job to offset lower wages. Source: “Poverty In Utah 2001,” Utah Issues: Center for Poverty Research and Action >>Back to top Housing Wage Utah’s housing wage increased 5.27% since last year, from $11.69 to $12.70. The housing wage is the hourly rate, based on a 40-hour workweek that a worker must earn in order to pay fair market rent. In Utah, a worker earning the minimum wage ($5.15 per hour) must work 99 hours per week in order to afford a two-bedroom unit at the state’s median Fair Market Rent. Source: “Poverty In Utah 2001,” Utah Issues: Center for Poverty Research and Action >>Back to top Back to the main Community Assessment page Other Helpful Web Resources

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