Research

The Extent of Poverty in Alabama

The share of children living in poverty dropped between 1996 and 2001 in all 13 states studied except Alabama.

(Urban Institute, Snapshots of American Families Issue 24, August 2006)

The U.S. poverty rate in 1999 dipped to 11.8%, the lowest point in 212 years. In Alabama the poverty rate in 1999 was 14.8%, 7th highest among all states, but down from 15.1% a year earlier. The U.S. percentage of children in poverty fell to 16.9%, the lowest figure since 1979.
(Birmingham News, Sept. 27,2000)

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 27.1% of the South’s l2 million black citizens lived below the poverty line in 1999, compared to 23.7% of blacks in the rest of the U.S.
(Center for Demographic Research, Auburn University Montgomery, Birmingham News, Nov. 11, 2005)

The South has a third of the nation’s poverty, a fourth of the nation’s population, and a sixth of the nation’s philanthropy.

American poverty rates by ethnic group in 2000: Blacks, 31.3%; Non-Hispanic Whites, 10.5%; Other races: 20.3%.

In the early 1990s, female heads of households dominated poverty statistics in the South. Among female heads of households, 2 of 5 lived in poverty. Among black female-headed households, the figure was 3 of 5. African Americans comprised 30% of the poor in cities, 27% in metropolitan areas, and 44% in rural areas. Southern blacks were three times as likely to be poor as whites. Among children, 16% of white children were poor compared to 45% of black children.
(Keith Ward, director, Auburn University Center for Government, “Taxing the Poor in Alabama.”)

Alabama’s poorest citizens paid more of their income in taxes during 2002 while the rich paid less. A report by the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy reported that the lowest-paid 20% of non-elderly taxpayers in Alabama paid more than twice as much of their income in taxes in 2002 than did the highest paid one percent. Nationwide in the 1990s every state with an income tax except Alabama passed reforms to provide tax relief for low-income families.

In 2003 Alabama’s top 1% (earning $229,000 or more) paid an average state and local tax rate of 3.7%, down from 4% in 1989. The lowest-paid 20%, who earned less than $13,000 per year, paid 10.3%, up from 9.6% in 1989.
(Birmingham News, Jan. 8, 2003)

According to 2001-2002 U.S. Census data, Alabama had the 7th highest poverty rate in America (679,000, or 15.2% of the state population, up from 14.6% during the previous two year period). Alabama’s median household income ranked 9th lowest. Region-wide the poverty rate was 13.8%.
(Poverty in the United States, 2002, U.S. Census Bureau)

Poverty rates by county in Alabama: Lowest rate in the state was in Shelby Co. (6.5%). That was the only Alabama county with single digit poverty rate. Black Belt counties (Perry, Wilcox, and Bullock) led the state with poverty rates above 30%. Statewide the poverty rate increased in 2003 to 15.4% (the national average was 12.1%).
(Birmingham News, Dec. 8, 2004)

In 2004 blacks represented 27% of Alabama’s population but owned less than 7% of the state’s businesses. Black median household income trailed whites' by $17,000 annually while 30% of blacks lived in poverty compared to 10% of whites.
(Birmingham News, Jan. 17, 2005)

The first data from the National Survey of America’s Families, conducted by the Urban Institute in 1998, found that the poor in Alabama and Mississippi, though near the bottom in most areas, rank among the highest for low-income families participating in service work and religious activities.
(Birmingham Post-Herald, Jan. 25, 1999)

“The Self-Sufficiency Standard for Alabama” measured what families in Alabama must earn to survive without welfare or help from their families and friends (food, housing, child care, transportation, health care, taxes, miscellaneous expenses such as clothing). In Birmingham in 2002, a single parent with an infant and a pre-schooler needed to earn $34,431 a year to be self-sufficient (but 20% of state households earned less than $13,000 a year). The average worker leaving welfare to go to work under welfare reform earned $6.11 an hour.
(Birmingham News, March 4, 2003)

Alabama ranked 9th among all states in disparity of income between richest and poorest families.
(Birmingham Post-Herald, Dec. 16, 1997)

In 1994 the federal government spent $125 billion on corporate welfare (farm subsidies, low interest business loans, etc.,) more than Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Supplemental Security Income, food programs, housing programs, education aid, child care, job training, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and other programs to help low income people combined.
(Birmingham News, Nov. 26, 1998. AFDC was abolished in Jan. 1997)

The U.S. Census Bureau, which classifies 17 states as “Southern,” reported that these states accounted for 34% of U.S. population but 55% of the nation’s poor.
(Birmingham Post-Herald, May 20,1999)

More than one-third the population of Mobile (35%) lived below the poverty line.
(Opelika-Auburn News, Sept. 11, 1984)

Alabama's poverty rate for 1990 was the 5th highest in the U.S. (nearly 1/5 the population). Alabama contained eight of the nation’s 100 poorest counties in 1990 according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
(Birmingham Post-Herald, Feb. 8, 1993)

The disparity between rich and poor in Alabama was one of the widest in America (6th widest). The poorest averaged $7,351, the richest $78,822.
(Birmingham Post-Herald, Aug. 28, 1992)