Twenty-three Percent of African Americans Live in Poverty
Twenty-three percent of African Americans live in poverty in the
US, according to a report released by the Commerce Department.
The report, "The Black Population in the United States: 2002",
was released by the Commerce Department in the Spring of 2003
and was the first time that the Census Bureau looked at the
state of African Americans in the US since the 2000 census.
Of the estimated 32.9 million people living in poverty in the
US, 8.1 million were African Americans and African American
children, under the age of six-teen, were three times more
likely to live in poverty than white children. African American
seniors were also three times more likely to live in poverty
than white seniors.
Some encouraging news did come from the Commerce Department's
report.
About fifty-two percent of African American married couples had
an income of at least $50,000, twenty-seven percent had incomes
of $75,000 or more, and according to a report by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics, more than 259, 000 African American households
had incomes above $100,000.
African Americans currently make up almost thirteen percent of
the US population and over ten percent of the workforce.