The Cost of Being Poor

THE COST OF BEING POOR 44 million Americans currently If it wasn't already hard enough for Americans in low income households to scrape by every month to pay for the most basic of life's necessities, it turns out being poor is actually costing them more money than those above the poverty line. Bottom line? These days, you have to be rich to afford being poor. live below the poverty line. POVERTY PERCENTAGES New Hampshire has the lowest poverty NH rate at 8.5% ACROSS AMERICA = Less than 11.0 = 11.0 to 12.9 = 13.0 to 15.9 = 16.0 or more Mississippi has the highest poverty rate at 21.9% Welcome To POVERTYVILLE POVERTY OVER THE YEARS 44 million 40 Million SOUP 30 20 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 44 million (14.3%) Americans currently live below the poverty line. The poverty rate is currently the highest it has been since 1960 when it was at about 40 million, or 11.1% 2009 FEDERAL POVERTY GUIDELINES 1 in 4 8888 U.S. jobs pays less than a poverty-level income. Family Size Yearly Income Hourly Wage $10,830 $5.64 $14,570 $7.59 $18,310 $9.54 BANK $22,050 $11.49 The average credit card balance for households earning less than $35,000 is $4,000. AMERICANS WITHOUT CHECKING ACCOUNTS Income of less than $30k per year 23% At 11.5% APR (making the standard minimum payment of 2% per month) it takes 13 years to pay off a $4,000 balance. Income of more than $30k per year PAYDAY LOANS Check-cashing stores charge up to 5% Payday loans charge on average a $15.50 fee for every $100 borrowed. On a $300 payday loan (borrowed for 7 days) the effective annual percentage rate is 806% ORGANIZATION NAME John Doe T Handnd mi Fy and 00/00 250.00 25% х 1 x 4 x 48 $12.50 fee $50.00 fee of U.S. households rely on services such as check-cashing & payday loans. $600.00 fee Lower income households pay between $50 - $500 more in car prices and an extra 2% points on an auto loan. Combined this can add up to over $1,000 every year. Lower income home owners $30,000 or less) pay interest rates as high as nearly 7%, meanwhile people with incomes of more than $120,000 pay a rate of 5.5% HOSPITAL 50.7 million INSURANCE COVERAGE Americans currently do not have health insurance (a 15% increase since 2000) BASED ON SALARY Income of less than $25k per year 24% 51% of the uninsured are $2,00 medical debt. 16% owe at least $10,000 Income of or more in more than $70k per year 83% GROCERY STORE NEAREST SAFENAY Being unable to afford a car means living farther away from larger, more affordable grocery stores. larger grocery stores is extremely limited. Low-income households are 6 to 7 times more likely than other U.S. households to not own cars, which means access to AVERAGE COST OF CERTAIN GROCERY ITEMS Store is <10,000 Sq. Ft. Small stores charge an average of Store is Item >10,000 Sq. Ft. 10% Dozen Eggs $3.03 $2.89 more than larger supermarkets. Cheerios $4.71 $4.56 Bush's tax cuts saved those earning between $20,000 and $30,000 an average of $10 a year, while those earning $1 million saved $42,700. Reducing the costs of living for lower income families by just 1% would add up to over $65 billion in new spending power for these families. www.OnlineSociologyDegree.net Sources: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/17IAR2009051702053.html?sid=ST2009051801162 www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/20060718_povop.pdf http://feedingamerica.org/faces-of-hunger/hunger-101/hunger-and-poverty-statistics.aspx departments.oxy.edu/uepi/cfj.Itransportation_and_food.pdf http://www.metroactive.com/bohemian/07.12.06/open-mic-0628.html http://247wallst.com/2010/09/16/down-and-out-in-america-2010-style/ http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/the-poorest-states-of-america/