Eighty percent of Utah’s Piute County residents live in “poverty areas”

A new map of "concentrated poverty" areas in America has one intensely colored spot in Utah: tiny, rural Piute County. It shows that more than 80 percent of Piute residents live in what the census calls "poverty areas," where the poverty rate is 20 percent or higher, for data collected between 2008 and 2012.

Nationally, the new Census Bureau report says that 25.7 percent of Americans now live in such "poverty areas," up from less than 18.1 percent in 2000. Maps in the report show that most Utah counties have fewer than 10 percent of their population living in such "poverty areas."

But Beaver and Iron counties have 50 to 79 percent of residents living in those areas. San Juan and Cache have between 25 and 49 percent. And Salt Lake, Utah, Weber, Carbon and Sanpete have between 10 and 24 percent. Salt Lake Tribune

New 2010 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates available

The Census Bureau has just released new poverty estimates for small areas (counties and school districts). Estimates are model-generated and use data from the American Community Survey, 2010 Census data, and administrative data. The estimates also include figures for median household income.

(Click to Enlarge)

As you can see, most counties in Utah exhibit low-to-moderate levels of poverty. San Juan, Iron, Piute, and Sanpete County show the highest poverty shares (all above 18 percent), while Morgan, Daggett, Summit, Wasatch, and Davis counties display the lowest poverty rates (8 percent or lower). Not surprisingly, with the exception of Daggett County, low-poverty counties tend to have high median household incomes.

Powered by Tableau

You can access the full set of estimates by clicking here.


Note: We are experimenting with interactive display software (Tableau). You should be able to download, examine, and sort the data in the chart by using the icons in the toolbar below the graphic.