Champaign News Gazette
November 19, 2009
Poverty rates for many counties in East Central Illinois were up in 2008, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
From Champaign News Gazette:
CHAMPAIGN – Poverty rates for many counties in East Central Illinois were up in 2008, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Champaign County’s overall poverty rate, which is inflated by the presence of University of Illinois students, was 18.7 percent in 2008. A year earlier, the overall poverty rate was 18.2 percent. In 2000, the county’s rate was 11.7 percent.
An estimated 32,595 Champaign County residents lived at or below the poverty level last year. No other area county had close to that number. McLean County, which also has a state university, reported 17,484 at or below the poverty level. McLean County’s poverty rate, however, was 11.4 percent.
Coles County, also with a state university, had the highest poverty rate in the area – 19.2 percent.
The under-18 poverty rate in Champaign County was 16.8 percent. Several area counties had higher rates in that category.
Carol Elliott, the township supervisor for Cunningham Township (Urbana), said, “I’m not surprised at all” by the higher poverty rate in Champaign County.
“If you look at the schools and the number of kids getting free lunches, you see that it’s pretty high,” Elliott said. “We’re able to see it here. We’re getting more calls now for assistance. There are things we just can’t do, but people call us for help with rent payments or with utilities.”
“These numbers don’t surprise us,” said Scott Olthoff, a financial counselor at Salt & Light, a social services and financial counseling center in Champaign. “Salt & Light has been around since 2004, and every year our numbers have gone up.”
Olthoff said that the number of Champaign County residents living in extreme poverty – defined as living at less than half the poverty line – was 12.2 percent, according to a study by the Heartland Alliance in Chicago.