Poverty rates in Alabama remained higher than much of the nation last year, new federal data shows, though some larger cities and counties saw significant job growth and rising incomes.
Last week, the U.S. census bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) released a slew of data updating poverty and other economic statistics for 2023. The numbers showed the national poverty rate declining from 12.6% to 12.5%, a decrease that was small in size but statistically significant, census officials said at a Wednesday news conference.
Along with the national drop in poverty, “We’re back to our median household income peak, we are back to [pre-COVID] 2019 levels for full-time year-round workers, and our earnings for all workers are higher than [in] 2019,” the bureau’s Liana Fox said.
