According to the 2009-2011 American Community Survey (ACS) , there were about 23.2 million students enrolled in colleges and universities in the United States. Many of these students reside on college campuses or in concentrated communities around the colleges. They are mostly young adults, between the ages of 18 and 29.

The demographic and economic characteristics of these students may noticeably shape the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the local communities where these colleges and universities are located. The impact of these students on local communities varies by the size and location of the schools. In smaller communities, where the students comprise a considerable portion of the local population, the socio-economic characteristics of the communities are directly affected by the characteristics of the student population. However, even in large cities, a big student population living off-campus can impact various socio-economic indicators.

This paper, using the ACS 3-year data (2009-2011), analyzes the impact of college students who are not living with relatives on the poverty rates of states, counties, and places in which the schools are located. To do this, the report calculates poverty rates excluding two groups of college students: those residing with parents or relatives and those living in college dormitories. College students residing with parents or relatives are excluded because their poverty status is determined together with their families. Students living in college dormitories are excluded because they are not part of the poverty universe used for the official poverty measure. To measure the impact of those college students who are not living with relatives on poverty rates, this paper reports poverty rates for states, counties, and places as they would have been if the off-campus students were not included in the poverty universe.