The U.S. Census Bureau recently released new poverty figures with its 2010 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, showing that despite the end of the latest recession, the percent of children in poverty has continued to rise in Mecklenburg County.  Child poverty has risen to 21.2 percent in Mecklenburg County, up from 19.8 percent in 2009 and even further from the 2008 rate of 13.9 percent.  While high, all of these child poverty rates were lower than those for North Carolina, which had a child poverty rate of 24.9 percent in 2010.

Child poverty rates continued to show disparities by race and ethnicity.  In 2010, only 12.4 percent of white children lived below the poverty line compared to much higher rates of 35.9, 33.2 and 20.8 percents for Hispanic, African American and Asian children respectively. 

About the data:  These data are derived from the American Community Survey (ACS) 1-Year Estimates conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.  Statistics are available for geographies with populations above 65,000 individuals and across topics ranging from demographics and poverty to housing and transportation.  2010 metropolitan level data from this source are not yet available.