The 10-20-30 Plan and Persistent Poverty Counties Page: 8 of 30
30 pages.View a full description of this report.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
The 10-20-30 Plan and Persistent Poverty Counties
reference period of the data-both data sources release data on an annual basis; the ACS
estimates for small areas are based on the prior five years, not the prior year alone.
Other Considerations
Treatment of Special Populations in the Official Poverty Definition
Poverty status is not defined for persons in institutions, such as nursing homes or prisons, nor for
persons residing in military barracks. These populations are excluded from totals when
computing poverty statistics. Furthermore, the homeless population is not counted explicitly in
poverty statistics. The ACS is a household survey, thus homeless individuals who are not in
shelters are not counted. SAIPE estimates are partially based on Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP) administrative data and tax data, so the part of the homeless
population that either filed tax returns or received SNAP benefits might be reflected in the
estimates, but only implicitly.
In the decennial census, ACS, and SAIPE estimates, poverty status also is not defined for persons
living in college dormitories.2 However, students who live in off-campus housing are included.
Because college students tend to have lower money income (which does not include school loans)
than average, counties that have large populations of students living off-campus may exhibit
higher poverty rates than one might expect given other economic measures for the area, such as
the unemployment rate.13
Given the ways that the special populations above either are or are not reflected in poverty
statistics, it may be worthwhile to consider whether counties that have large numbers of people in
those populations would receive an equitable allocation of funds. Other economic measures may
be of use, depending on the type of program for which funds are being targeted.
"Persistence" Versus Flexibility to Recent Situations
The 10-20-30 plan was developed to identify counties with persistently high poverty rates.
Therefore, using that funding approach by itself would not allow flexibility to target counties that
have recently fallen on hard times, such as counties that had a large manufacturing plant close
within the past three years. Other interventions besides the 10-20-30 plan may be more
appropriate for counties that have had a recent spike in the poverty rate.
Effects of Rounding and Data Source Selection on Lists of Counties
In ARRA, persistent poverty counties were defined as "any county that has had 20 percent or
more of its population living in poverty over the past 30 years, as measured by the 1980, 1990,
and 2000 decennial censuses."14 Poverty rates published by the Census Bureau are typically
12 Details on the poverty universe in the ACS are available at https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/
tech_docs/subjectdefinitions/2016_ACSSubjectDefinitions.pdf#page=108 and for the SAIPE estimates at
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/saipe/guidance/model-input-data/denominators/poverty.html.
13 For some counties, the percentage-point difference could be large when off-campus students are excluded. Using
ACS data for 2009-2011, Whitman County, WA, experienced the largest poverty rate difference among all counties
when off-campus students were excluded-its poverty rate fell by 16.5 percentage points. For the United States as a
whole, the poverty rate fell from 15.2% to 14.5% when off-campus students were excluded (based on the same dataset).
For details, see Alemayehu Bishaw, "Examining the Effect of Off-Campus College Students on Poverty Rates,"
Working Paper SEHSD 2013-17, U.S. Census Bureau, May 1, 2013.
14 P.L. 111-5, Section 105.Congressional Research Service 5
Congressional Research Service
5
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This report can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Report.
Dalaker, Joseph. The 10-20-30 Plan and Persistent Poverty Counties, report, February 8, 2018; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1156887/m1/8/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.