CPPP on Census' New Income, Poverty, and Health Data

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CPPP

August 28, 2007

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For an economy in its fifth year of recovery, the new Census Bureau figures paint a disappointing picture nationally and in Texas. The poverty rate in Texas is unchanged at 16.3 percent in 2005-06, while median income edged up to $44,922, leaving Texas about where it was when the recession bottomed out in 2001. “Despite five years of economic growth, Texas’ poverty rate has stagnated,” said Frances Deviney, Senior Research Associate at the Center for Public Policy Priorities. “While it’s encouraging that conditions haven’t gotten worse, it’s discouraging that we still have 3.7 million Texans living in poverty.”