City

Syracuse poverty rate rises, ranks among worst in United States

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Syracuse was ranked 13th among U.S. cities with the highest poverty rates.

The percentage of people living under the poverty line in Syracuse last year climbed while the overall poverty rate in the United States decreased, according to data released by the United States Census Bureau Thursday.

Thirty-two point one percent of Syracuse residents lived below the poverty line in 2016, up from 31 percent in 2015, according to the Census data.

While Syracuse’s poverty rate climbed between 2015 and 2016, the poverty rate for the rest of the country dropped from an estimated 13.5 percent to 12.7 percent, per the data.

About 41,710 people in Syracuse lived below the poverty line in 2016, according to Census estimates.

The city has the 13th highest poverty rate in the country, according to a database compiled by Syracuse.com. Syracuse was ranked 29th in 2015.



Rochester — with an estimated 32.3 percent poverty rate — was ranked 12th, according to the Syracuse.com database. Buffalo was ranked 23rd, with about 30.5 percent of residents living in poverty, per the database.

Flint, Michigan’s poverty rate, at 44.5 percent, is the highest in the country, according to Syracuse.com.





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