A new map of "concentrated poverty" areas in America has one intensely colored spot in Utah: tiny, rural Piute County. It shows that more than 80 percent of Piute residents live in what the census calls "poverty areas," where the poverty rate is 20 percent or higher, for data collected between 2008 and 2012.
Nationally, the new Census Bureau report says that 25.7 percent of Americans now live in such "poverty areas," up from less than 18.1 percent in 2000. Maps in the report show that most Utah counties have fewer than 10 percent of their population living in such "poverty areas."
But Beaver and Iron counties have 50 to 79 percent of residents living in those areas. San Juan and Cache have between 25 and 49 percent. And Salt Lake, Utah, Weber, Carbon and Sanpete have between 10 and 24 percent. Salt Lake Tribune
Note: “Poverty” designations do not include any adjustments based on cost of living. In other words, identical incomes in a very high cost-of-living area (such as San Diego) and a very low cost-of-living area would be given the same poverty designation.
