557,000 Oklahomans lived in poverty last year

from the Boston Globe

Here are the census stats in regards to the state of Oklahoma. - Kale

By Justin Juozapavicius,

TULSA, Okla. --Nearly one in six Oklahomans lived in poverty last year, even as the state's economy continued to do well, according to figures released Tuesday from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey.

The survey, which provides statistics on income, earnings and housing, among others, found that 557,000 Oklahomans -- 15.9 percent -- were in poverty in 2007, slightly lower than the 17 percent of residents who lived in poverty in 2006.

Twelve states, including Oklahoma, all had lower poverty rates in the 2007 survey than in 2006.

Even with the slight improvement, the survey found that Oklahoma's poverty rate still remained above the national average of 13 percent in 2007.

Nationally, the survey estimated more than 38 million Americans lived in poverty last year. New Hampshire had the lowest poverty rate in the nation with 7.1 percent, while Mississippi had the highest with 20.6 percent.

The situation in Oklahoma, where continued expansion of the oil and gas industry helped personal income grow by nearly 1 percent in the first quarter of 2008, is a "classic glass half-full, half-empty story," said David Blatt, director of policy for the Oklahoma Policy Institute.

"We have to remember that there is a substantial part of the population that has not enjoyed the boom," Blatt said. "People frequently say a rising tide lifts all boats. We see here with these numbers that a substantial part of the population has been left off the boat and left, frankly, floundering in the water."

Those hit the hardest by poverty in Oklahoma include children, people without high school degrees, ethnic minorities and single-parent families, Blatt said.

The community survey also found that the state's median household income was $41,567 in 2007, an increase of $1,802 from the year before. The figure is still $9,173 below the national median.

Another survey released by the bureau Tuesday, along with data from Oklahoma's Insurance Department, found that more than 661,000, or more than 18 percent, of Oklahomans did not have health insurance from 2006-2007. Oklahoma also has the fifth-highest uninsured rate in the U.S. for residents ages 19-64.

Kim Holland, the state's insurance commissioner, described the situation here as one that's "not gotten much worse or gotten much better," and added that funding for programs remains the challenge.

"How do we generate more revenue that can be dedicated to expanding access for health insurance?" Holland said. "If we could finance what the Legislature has approved, we could go from fifth in the nation to last in the nation in terms of uninsured. We just have to find the funding mechanism."

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