Some facts about poverty in Northern Kentucky

According to the 2000 census (2004 estimates), there are 7,400 families (and about 45,000 individuals) in Northern Kentucky’s eight counties living below the poverty level, defined as a yearly income of only $20,650 for a family of four).

Children are often the unseen victims of poverty in the community. A child in Kentucky is born into poverty every 44 minutes. Kentucky ranks 44th out of the 51 states and Puerto Rico for the percent of children who are poor—20% of the children of the Commonwealth. In Northern Kentucky, nearly 15% of children and 20% (one in five) young children are in poor families.

In Kentucky, a family earning $15,222 (30% of the median income for the state) can afford a monthly rent of no more than $381. The Fair Market Rent in the state for a two-bedroom apartment is $532. Housing is considered affordable if it costs no more than 30% of the family income. To afford a two-bedroom apartment at the Fair Market rate, a person making minimum wage would need to work about 90 hours per week.

The “housing wage” in the area ranges from $10.54 (Carroll County) to 12.85 (Boone, Campbell, Gallatin, Kenton and Pendleton Counties), which represents the amount a full-time worker must earn in a 40-hour week to afford a two-bedroom apartment. (National Low Income Housing Coalition, 2006)

Low-income families pay more of their income for basic necessities such as housing and utilities. The home energy burden for families with incomes below 50% of the poverty level is 43% of their annual income—just to heat and light their homes. Even households with incomes up to 185% of the poverty level ($37,000 for a family of four) have utility bills higher than what is considered affordable. While the problem is the most urgent during the winter heating months, it persists year-round.

Families who struggle with paying rent and utilities also struggle with getting enough food to eat. Food insecurity is the “limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.” Fifteen percent of households in Northern Kentucky are considered “food insecure.” For families that rely on food pantries in the region, that number jumps to 85% of all clients.

Literacy affects a person’s ability to secure a living wage job. Over 26,000 people in Campbell, Kenton and Boone counties are functionally illiterate. They can’t fill out a job application, follow written instructions or read a newspaper. The Department of Education estimates that 60% of the unemployed lack the basic skills necessary to be trained for today’s high-tech jobs.

Low-income families struggle with health care costs. Almost 30% of two-year-olds in Kentucky are not fully immunized. More than 30% of non-elderly Kentuckians with incomes below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level are uninsured.

Effects of poverty on children (The Future of Children; Summer Fall, 1997):

• Adverse health: low birth weights; growth stunting; lead poisoning, asthma, recurrent ear infections
• Cognitive delays and learning disabilities
• School achievement: grade repetition; expulsions and suspensions, completion of high school
• Teen pregnancies
• Hunger
• Limited neighborhood choices often result in attendance at low-performing schools, higher crime, fewer recreational and child development choices

The myth is that families stay poor for years or even for generations. While this is true for some families, the research shows that the average poverty spell is about 39 months (Center for Policy Research; Syracuse University; 2006).

• Blacks are likely to stay in poverty for 16 months longer than whites.
• Female headed households will be in poverty 9.3 months longer than male headed households.
• High School graduate households suffer 12 fewer months of poverty than dropout households.
• Those in neighborhoods with high poverty concentrations are likely to stay poor longer than those in more economically affluent areas. (Census tracts in Covington and Newport both report high persistent poverty rates of from 34 to 49% or residents in the 2000 Census.)

Poor families tend to pay more for goods and services than non-poor families. (Annie E. Casey Foundation; Winter 2005) Because they lack savings, they are not financially prepared for setbacks – a lost job; family breakup; illness; injury; car repair; major appliance replacement; etc.

• Check cashing businesses that charge $12 to cash a pay check because many low income families do not have bank accounts
• Limited transportation requiring families to make purchases at the higher priced convenience stores and neighborhood markets
• Rapid refund tax loans, pay day lenders and other predatory lending practices that charge interest rates as high as 400%\
• Rent-to-own purchases that cost hundreds of dollars over the life of the loan in finance charges
• Late fees; overdraft charges and high interest bank cards
• Buy here/pay here financing at many used car dealers with interest rates in excess of 25%
  

For information on NKCAC's poverty simulation, which is a hands-on activity to awareness about issues facing low income families, click here.

To download NKCAC's 2002 White Paper on Poverty in Northern Kentucky, click here. (pdf file)