Persistent Poverty Counties — The Economic Research Service

Economic Research Service

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 (ERS) of USDA categorizes non-metropolitan counties by their dominant economic foundation and by characteristic policy type. Persistent poverty counties are defined as those where 20% or more of the county population in each of the last four decennial Censuses had poverty level household incomes[1]. In 2000, there were 386 such counties concentrated largely in the Delta South, Central Appalachia, Rio Grande Valley, the Northern Great Plains, and western Alaska. The average poverty rate in these counties was approximately 29% in 1989.

See also

• Poverty in the United States
  Poverty in the United States
  Poverty is defined as the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. According to the U.S. Census Bureau data released Tuesday September 13th, 2011, the nation's poverty rate rose to 15.1% in 2010, up from 14.3% in 2009 and to its highest level...
  
  
• List of the poorest places in the United States
• Lowest-income counties in the United States
  Lowest-income counties in the United States
  -100 counties with lowest per capita income:Number of counties by state in the 100 poorest counties: Texas, 17; Kentucky, 16; Mississippi, 14; South Dakota, 10; Louisiana, 5; Alabama, 4; Georgia, 4; Montana, 4; New Mexico, 4; North Dakota, 3; Arizona, 2; Idaho, 2; Nebraska, 2; Tennessee, 2; West...