Poverty Rates in Massachusetts
Major City Residents Struggle to Afford Food, Shelter, Health Care
With a poverty rate of 9.9%, Massachusetts has the 10th lowest poverty rate in the nation.
This is slightly better than the poverty rates of Alaska and Nebraska, and slightly worse than the poverty rate of Delaware.
Despite this good news, that still means that one out of every ten people in Massachusetts is living in poverty. This article is about them.
Where the Worst Poverty in Massachusetts Occurs
The poverty in Massachusetts mainly occurs in its major cities. There are 11 major cities in Massachusetts where the poverty rate reaches critical levels, which means 50% or more above the state average.
The major cities (25,000 people or more) in which the poverty rates have reached critical levels are the following:
- Boston (19.5%)
- Chelsea (23.3%)
- Fall River (17.1%)
- Fitchburg (15.0%)
- Holyoke (26.4%)
- Lawrence (24.3%)
- Lowell (16.8%)
- Lynn (16.5%)
- New Bedford (20.2%)
- Springfield (23.1%)
However, the poverty rates also reach critical levels in two Massachusetts counties. These two counties are the following:
- Hampden (15.1%)
- Suffolk (16.7%)
Why the Worst Poverty in Massachusetts Exists
Because the critical rates of poverty are much higher and found much more frequently in major cities of Massachusetts, this section will focus on poverty in highly populated urban areas.
People living in these types of urban areas are completely reliant on the market for all of their most basic needs. These needs include things such as food, utilities, shelter, and health care.
The prices of these items rise with the market, and the cost of living in these highly populated urban areas therefore rises as well.
However, when the lowest paying jobs in an area don’t raise their wages to match the rising costs of basic necessities of life, pockets of poverty begin to form and expand within the city.
As these pockets of poverty grow within the city, a negative stigma starts to be associated with the entire area.
This negative stigma makes the area unattractive for expanding businesses, teachers, and health care professionals. This then causes a shortage of jobs, low quality education, and low quality health care in the area.
All of this makes the problem of poverty in these urban regions continually worse, and the cycle of poverty continues to multiply and expand until an investment of some kind in the area intervenes.
All of this aside, it is important to keep in mind that the reasons for poverty are as unique as the individuals who live through it. Though finding trends in a specific area is important, no generalization can account for everyone.
What is Being Done about Poverty in Massachusetts
Since most of the poorest people in Massachusetts live in heavily populated major cities, they are fortunately easy for nationwide charitable and outreach organizations to reach.
Organizations such as these include Just Neighbors, Second Harvest, the Boys and Girls Club, Poverty USA, Save the Children, and many other poverty-fighting organizations.
Also, there are many food banks operating throughout Massachusetts. Examples of these include the Greater Boston Food Bank and the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.
In the public realm, legislators who worked to raise the minimum wage are a huge ally to the working poor in the heavily populated urban areas of Massachusetts.
If it were possible for minimum wage workers to work enough to pay for the high cost of living in Massachusetts, then not nearly as much public and private assistance would be required.
References:
United States Census Bureau
