As U.S. numbers rise, poverty rate steady in Hampton Roads

While the nation's poverty rate climbed to its highest level in 11 years in 2008, the percentage of Hampton Roads residents below the poverty line was unchanged, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.

The number of local residents living in poverty declined slightly to 165,412, while the percentage of the population below the poverty line remained unchanged at 10.4 percent, the bureau said.

However, the number of Hampton Roads children living in poverty rose 2,703 to 66,139 last year, or 16.2 percent of the region's children. In 2007, the poverty rate for this age group was 15.5 percent.

Earlier this month, the bureau reported that the U.S. poverty rate rose to 13.2 percent last year from 12.5 percent in 2007. The number of people nationwide living in poverty jumped by 2.5 million to 39.8 million.

The government-defined poverty line for 2008 was an income of $22,025 for a family of four and $17,163 for a family of three.

The Census Bureau's poverty figures are useful as "quality-of-life indicators" and for tracking the effectiveness of programs designed to alleviate poverty, said Greg Grootendorst, deputy executive director for economics at the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.

In addition to having a lower poverty rate than the nation, Hampton Roads has benefited by having a narrower spread between extremes of wealth and poverty in its population, Grootendorst noted.

A relatively stable economy sheltered Hampton Roads last year from the heavy job losses and mounting poverty witnessed in many metropolitan areas. However, the recession was slower to take effect in Hampton Roads than in many other parts of the country.

The latest census figures show a decline in the number of Hampton Roads residents ages 18 to 64 living in poverty, a decrease of 4,165 last year to 84,076. That amounted to 8.3 percent of the 18-to-64 population, compared with 8.8 percent of that age group in 2007.

However, the number of residents in the region 65 and older in poverty rose by 791 to 15,197, or 8.4 percent of that population. That's up from 8.2 percent in 2007.

Among the region's black population, the percentage living below the poverty line was unchanged at 19.5 percent. The percentage of white residents falling below the poverty line last year dipped to 6 percent from 6.1 percent in 2007. For Hispanic residents, the poverty rate dropped to 10.3 percent from 12.7 percent in 2007.

Meanwhile, the number of Hampton Roads households receiving food stamps grew by 4,316 to reach 39,679 last year, the Census Bureau reported. As a percentage of the region's households, however, the number remained at 6 percent, the level in 2007.

Throughout Virginia, the poverty rate rose to 10.2 percent last year from 9.9 percent in 2007, the Census Bureau said.

Tom Shean, (757) 446-2379, tom.shean@pilotonline.com