DENVER—The rate that Colorado children living in poverty is growing at an alarming rate, even though the state fared better than most of the country in the overall poverty figures the Census Bureau released Thursday, state advocates said.
The data shows that Colorado’s overall poverty rate is 12.3 percent, two percentage points lower than the country’s rate of 14.3 percent. The state’s rate is the 31st highest in the country without including the District of Columbia.
Chris Watney, president of the nonprofit Colorado Children’s Campaign, said the Census figures show that the number of children living in poverty in the state is “dramatically rising.”
“Again, this is a trend we’d seen for awhile, and it doesn’t seem like that trend is going in a different direction,” Watney said.
Chuck Nelson, a Census Bureau statistician, said the rate of children living in poverty in Colorado was 13 percent for the data years of 2006 to 2007. The latest figures of 2008 to 2009 put the state’s poverty rate for children at 16.3 percent, Nelson said.
The national average is for poverty among children is 19.9 percent, he said.
Watney said her group wants to make sure children have access to nutritional meals in school and that families are educated about their eligibility for state programs for uninsured children, such as Colorado’s Child Health Plan Plus.
The Census figures Thursday also measured the percentage of people living without health insurance. Colorado was just under the national rate of 16 percent.
The Census Bureau figures show Mississippi had the highest poverty rate in the country with 23.1 percent. The national poverty rate for all ages was the highest since 1994. Among the working-age population, ages 18-64, the poverty rate rose from 11.7 percent to 12.9 percent—the highest level since the 1960s.
For the three-year average from 2007 to 2009, Colorado had the ninth highest median household income with $59,964.
The Census will be releasing more detailed economic data on Sept. 28 as part of its American Community Survey.
