Who are the U.S. poor?
See a larger version of this map here.
A picture – or a few maps in this case – is worth a thousand words.
Here’s a map that shows the areas of the U.S. with the highest percentage of people living below the poverty level.
I was looking this map to see where the poor live. As I compared it to some of the other maps on the same page, I realized that these maps were not only telling me where the poor lived, but who the poor are here in the U.S.
Scroll down and compare for yourself.
The three maps below show the parts of the U.S. with:
the highest percentage of African Americans; the highest percentage of Latinos and Hispanics; and the highest percentage of American Indians.
Who’s poor? A picture – or a few maps in this case – is worth a thousand words. For example, check out the darkest (poorest) part of the povery map, and then look at the American Indian map.
It makes me ask myself: here in the U.S., where we pride ourselves on equal opportunity for all, can we really say that we offer equal opportunity to everyone, regardless of minority status or ethnicity?
To get a better, closer, bigger look at any of these maps and more, go here.
These maps are a few of a pageful of U.S. Census Grid Maps, put together by NASA’s Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center and Columbia University’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network. Here is the method that was used to put these maps together.
The data sets are from the year 2000. Keep in mind, that’s before hurricane Katrina.
Looking at the maps in your article shows what one would expect. But there is one area that consistently gets overlooked – Appalachia. If you look closely at the general population map, you see that Kentucky and West Virginia have a large population of poor as well. This is a very economically depressed area of the country. Few jobs and little opportunity. When will they get some recognition?
Gretchie:
Thank you so much for pointing this out. I live in the heart of Appalachia and I appreciate you directing our attention to this.
Eleanor
To use these maps to say Native Americans are poor because of a lack of “equal opportunity” is misleading.
Poverty has more to do with education, language ability, and availability of jobs.
If you are uneducated your chances of living in poverty are greater.
If you do not speak English your chances of living in poverty are greater.
If you live where there are few jobs your chances of living in poverty are greater.
A true view of “equal opportunity” is only valid when comparing equal facts, i.e. people with college degrees in Engineering of different races; high school dropouts of different races, etc.
Statistics don’t lie, but liars use statistics, I think the saying goes.
Kenneth:
Education and jobs are what we mean by “equal opportunity” in this country. And certainly, your arguments are valid. But, point by point, they just don’t explain what these maps are showing.
For African Americans and most Native Americans, English is their first language. And how many job opportunities are there in central Iowa or Montana, where the percentage of people living under the poverty level is low? No, there is something else going on here.
lesterette
I saw maps for all the minority groups but White Americans??? Is data not collected and gathered or was it left out by the editor on your web site unintentionally? Being this is an objective science web site one would think all groups and races would be represented. This is obviously incomplete a faulty study and therefore not very scientific and does not use the scientific method.