Nonmetro poverty rates exceed metro rates for all racial/ethnic groups

Areas with a high incidence of poverty often reflect the low income of their racial/ethnic minorities. Nonmetro non-Hispanic Blacks had the highest incidence of poverty in 2010, at 32.9 percent (32.2 percent in 2009). The 2010 poverty rate for nonmetro Hispanics was 29.5 percent, which is 1.7 percentage points higher than in 2009. Both non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic poverty rates for 2010 were more than twice the rate for non-Hispanic Whites (13.1 percent), which was also the case in 2009. The high rate of poverty for Hispanics is noteworthy as their share of the nonmetro population has been increasing faster than other racial/ethnic groups, from less than 3 percent in 1990 to 7.4 percent in 2010. This chart is found in the Poverty Demographics chapter of the Rural Income, Poverty, and Welfare briefing room on the ERS website, updated September 17, 2011.

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