Poverty projections for California

A new study gives projections on children poverty levels for Northern California. The study says that an eighth of the area's children will live in poverty at some time during the year 2010. Also, a quarter of California children statewide will fall below the poverty line.

From KTUV, we read this further breakdown of the projections.

The study projects that as many as 2.7 million children in the state, or 27 percent of California's children, could be living in households below the poverty level at some point in 2010, according to officials with the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health.

The federal poverty level is $22,000 in earnings per year for a family of four. Officials believe families in California need to earn at least twice that amount to cover basic living expenses.

In six Bay Area counties - Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara - the number of children in poverty could rise as high as 15 or 16 percent this year, compared to 8 to 13 percent in those counties in 2008.

The study, done by Duke University sociologist Kenneth Land, followed trends from 1995 to 2006 and projects poverty rates through 2012.