The U.S. Census Bureau just released data from the most recent American Community Survey (ACS).
Tune in LIVE today (September 14) at 2pm CT at Facebook.com/BetterTexas for a Facebook Live discussion of the new data.
Texas highlights from today’s release include:
Income
*The median household income in Texas remained relatively flat between 2015-2016.
2016: $56,565o
2015: $56,354 (in 2016 inflation adjusted dollars)
*A large gender gap in income remains for full time, year round workers in Texas. The typical male worker earns roughly $10,000 more in income than the typical female worker.
2016 median income for men: $47,351o
2016 median income for women: $37,576
Poverty – Overall
*The Texas poverty rate is at a 10 year low (15.6 percent). The rate only improved slightly from last year.
*The number of Texans living in poverty did not improve in 2016.
2016 Texans in poverty: 4,261,337o
2015 Texans in poverty: 4,255,517
*The Texas poverty rate in 2016 remained higher than the national poverty rate, with 15.6 percent of Texans in poverty compared to 12.7 percent nationwide.
Texas was 38th in overall poverty rate, while New Hampshire had the lowest poverty rate at 7.3%.
States with the highest poverty rates (above 18%) were: District of Columbia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and New Mexico.
*Gaps in poverty rates by race and ethnicity persisted in 2016.
The poverty rate for Hispanic (22 percent) and Black (20 percent) Texans is much worse than that of White (9 percent) or Asian (11 percent) Texans.
*Texans in poverty are the most likely to lack health insurance.
28.5 percent of Texans with income below 138 percent of the federal poverty level ($33,587.82 for a family of two adults and two children) are uninsured.
Child Poverty
The Texas child poverty rate is the lowest it has been since the recession at 22.5 percent (the same rate as it was in 2008).
*Far too many Texas children still live in poverty; 1.62 million of Texas’ 7.2 million children live below the official federal poverty line (around $24,500 for a family of four).
*Child poverty disproportionately affects Black and Hispanic children in Texas. The poverty rate for Hispanic (31 percent) and Black (29 percent) children is roughly three times higher than the poverty rate for White (10 percent) and Asian (10 percent) children.
*Gaps in the child poverty rate by race/ethnicity improved in 2016, but we still have a long way to go to close the gaps.
2015 Gaps relative to White: 22 percentage points (Hispanic) and 21 percentage points (Black)
2016 gaps relative to White: 21 percentage points (Hispanic) and 19 percentage points (Black).
Today’s release of the ACS by the U.S. Census follows Tuesday’s release of the Current Population Survey (CPS). To better understand the difference between the ACS and the CPS, view our side-by-side comparison. For more information or to schedule an interview with a CPPP expert please contact Oliver Bernstein at bernstein@cppp.org.
