Document Type
Fact Sheet
Publication Date
5-2011
Abstract
Massachusetts has lower total poverty rates compared to the US average. However, Asian and other minorities in Massachusetts higher poverty rates while Black and White populations have lower poverty rates than compared to US averages.
Poverty rates by race differ considerably across Massachusetts’ ten largest cities. For Blacks, the highest poverty rates are in Fall River (41.7%), for Asians it is Boston (30.2%) and for Whites is it s New Bedford (19.4%). Quincy’s poverty rates are the lowest for Whites (8.0%) and other racial groups (11.2%), while Cambridge has the lowest poverty rates for Blacks at 15.2% and Brockton for Asians at 4.5%.
Recommended Citation
Albelda, Randy; Cadet, Ferry; and Mei, Dinghong, "Poverty in Massachusetts by Race" (2011). Center for Social Policy Publications. 56.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/csp_pubs/56
Comments
Who is poor in Massachusetts? How does the Commonwealth fare compared to the US in terms of poverty rates? Which Massachusetts cities have the lowest and highest poverty rates? Researchers at the Center for Social Policy have created eight one-page fact sheets on poverty in the Massachusetts using the recently released 5-year sample of the American Community Survey. Each of the one-page fact sheets provides information of poverty among a particular demographic groups (age, gender, race/ethnicity, education level, nativity, and family status), comparing Massachusetts rates to that in the US, providing the distribution of the whole population and the total poor population, and comparing poverty rate in the 10 largest Massachusetts cities.