The recession hit us late: more than one in five New Yorkers lives in poverty, including one in four children, the Times reports. The 2010 levels increased by about 100,000 people—or 1.3 percentage points—from the year before, “the highest level and the largest year-to-year increase since the city adopted a more detailed definition of poverty in 2005.” In total, 1.7 million New Yorkers live below the poverty line, with another 12.4 percent “near poor.”
The city’s definition of poverty is more liberal than the federal government’s, which does not take into consideration “expenses, like medical care, child care, commuting and housing.” (By the federal measure, the city’s poverty rate went up to 18.8 percent.)
The city’s Center for Economic Opportunity, which compiled the stats, said the poverty rate would be even worse were it not for government programs like food stamps, which in 2010 were used by more than one million New Yorkers.
Follow Henry Stewart on Twitter @henrycstewart