Sobering demographics, We’re all worse off

In its release of 2010 estimates for Monroe County, the Census Bureau confirmed what we perceive: We’re all worse off.

As year-to-year variation is less reliable, I compare the 2010 American Community Survey estimates to the 2000 Census—the “long form.”

• Median household income fell about 20% over the decade. Adjusted for inflation, the 2009 figure reported in the 2010 report—about $45,000—is 78% of the nearly $58,000 figure from 1999.
• Per capita income didn’t decline as much—about 9% to about $27,000 (from an inflation-adjusted $29,000).
• The increased incidence of poverty is also troubling:
  • Family poverty rate from 8.2% to 11.1%
  • Poverty rate for families with children under 18 rose from 13.1% to 18.6%
  • Similarly, persons in poverty rose from 11.2% to 15.4% but children in poverty rose even more, from 15.5% to 22.2%

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