This graph presents the portion of children living at or below the poverty level in Detroit and Michigan in 2008, 2009 and 2010. In Detroit, the percentage of children in poverty increased from 2008 to 2009, and again from 2009 to 2010. In Michigan, the percentage of children in poverty increased from 2008 to 2009, but remained at the 2009 level, 23 percent, in 2010.
Considering Detroit children by age (the age groups of 0 to 5 years old and those less than 18 years old), each group suffered an increase in poverty from 2008 to 2010. The percent of children ages 6 to 17 years old living in poverty in Detroit decreased from 2008 to 2009, but increased slightly from 2009 to 2010. The most serious increase affected children 0 to 5 years old; 58 percent of the children in that group were in poverty in 2010, a 10 percent increase from 2008.
In the City of Detroit, the number of children living below 150 percent of the poverty level increased from 2008 to 2009, and from 2009 to 2010. Statewide, the same trend occurred. Living 150 percent below the poverty means that individual, or their family, is making 150 percent of what the poverty threshold is for that year. Since it is over 100 percent that number translates into the family’s income being higher than the poverty threshold; if it were below 100 percent thought it would be less than the threshold. For example, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Home Services, a family of two earning an annual income of $21,855 was considered being 150 percent below the poverty level in 2010. The poverty threshold for that year for a family of the same size was $14,570. A family of two that was 50 percent below the poverty level earned $7,285 in 2010. In all three years shown in this graph, the percentage of children in the City of Detroit living below 150 percent of the poverty level was much larger than it was throughout the State of Michigan. By 2010, the level in Detroit was more than double the State’s level. To learn more about poverty and what it means visit here.
In the City of Detroit and in the State of Michigan, the percentage of children living below 200 percent of the poverty level increased each year from 2008 to 2010. The percentage of children in the City of Detroit living below 200 percent of the poverty level was much larger than it was throughout the State of Michigan for all three years.
The percentage of children living below 250 percent of the poverty level in the City of Detroit steadily increased from 2008 to 2010. During this same time period, the state experienced a similar trend. In all three years, however, the percentage of children in Detroit living below 250 percent of the poverty level was much larger than it was throughout the State of Michigan.