New data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates more Iowans are living in poverty now than at the beginning of the recession. Nearly 380,000 Iowans were living below the poverty line last year. That’s 12.7 percent of the state’s population or nearly one out of every eight Iowans.
The poverty rate for 2013 was the same as it was the previous year, but higher than it was in 2007. Six years ago an estimated 11 percent of Iowans were living at or below poverty level. The poverty line is considered $12,000 in annual income for an individual. For a family of four, it’s a little less than $24,000 a year. Iowa’s poverty rate is still below the nation rate of nearly 16 percent.
The Census Bureau estimates the median income in Iowa was just over $52,000 in 2013. It was over a thousand dollars more at the start of the recession in 2007