DEC. 3, 2018 – In 2017, 11.3 percent of counties had a statistically significant increase in median household income compared to 2007, the year before the most recent recession, while 7.5 percent had a statistically significant decrease, according to the new Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates report released today by the Census Bureau.

Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) provide the only up-to-date, single-year income and poverty statistics for all 3,141 counties and 13,213 school districts nationally. The SAIPE tables provide statistics on the number of people in poverty, the number of children younger than age 5 in poverty (for states only), the number of children ages 5 to 17 in families in poverty, the number of children younger than age 18 in poverty, and median household income. At the school district level, estimates are available for the total population, the number of children ages 5 to 17, and the number of children ages 5 to 17 in families in poverty.

Income highlights:

• County-level median household income estimates ranged from $22,645 to $136,191, with a median income of $48,886 for all counties in 2017.

• Between 2016 and 2017, 7.3 percent of counties had a statistically significant increase, while 3.1 percent had a statistically significant decrease.

Along with median household income, county-level poverty estimates were also released, ranging from 3.0 percent to 56.7 percent, with a median poverty rate of 14.4 percent for all counties.

Poverty highlights:

• In 2017, the county-level poverty rate for school-age children (ages 5 to 17) ranged between 2.3 percent and 60.2 percent, with a median county-level rate of 19.1 percent.

• Between 2016 and 2017, 6.7 percent of counties had a statistically significant decrease in poverty, while 1.7 percent of counties had a statistically significant increase.

• When compared to 2007, 3.2 percent of counties had a statistically significant decrease in 2017, while 7.5 percent of counties had a statistically significant increase.

• For all school districts, the median estimated poverty rate for school-age children was 15.2 percent in 2017.

Statistics from the SAIPE program are an input to the allocation formula for Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as currently amended. Title I distributes funding to school districts based on the number and percentage of low-income children. The U.S. Department of Education expects to use the 2017 estimates to calculate fiscal year 2019 allocations for Title I and several other Department of Education programs for use by states and school districts primarily in the 2019-2020 school year.

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