WV Ranks High for Poverty

Leaders are using new data on poverty to try to do something about it. Kanawha County’s 17 percent poverty rate last year was the highest it has been in the last decade, with the exception of 2011. The new US Census data shows 328,000 or about 18.3 percent of West Virginians living below the federal poverty line. Only Mississippi ranked worse. A family of four making less than $24,250 is defined as living in poverty, or an individual making less than $14,720. Monongalia had the highest poverty rate in the state. WorkForce West Virginia says there has been economic growth in the past few years, but things like reversing the decrease in manufacturing jobs, and attracting more banking and insurance companies would go a long way toward boosting the economy, and in turn, wallets.