Survey finds higher poverty in Los Angeles county compared to California

The United Way of Greater Los Angeles has released a survey on poverty in Los Angeles County. The United Way finds that the area has a higher poverty rate than the rest of the state of California.

From The Pasadena Star News, we find this summary of the report.

In LA County, 15 percent of people live below poverty - meaning they survive on less than $11,000 for a single person or $22,000 for a family of four - compared with 13 percent nationally.

"Los Angeles County was in crisis before the recent economic downturn. We are now in danger of falling further behind," the report concludes.

LA County fares even worse, comparably, when looking at the population of "working poor" - those with household incomes of less than $44,000 a year.

From 2000 to 2008, the population of working poor ranged from 36 to 40 percent and averaged nearly 6 percentage points higher than the state as a whole, and 7.5 percentage points higher than the rest of the country.