The U.S. Census Bureau released a report Tuesday that indicates Americans went into deeper poverty in 2010 than in 2009. Families took home less in wages and fewer people were covered by health insurance. To see the bureau's report,
Poverty
In a nutshell, 15.1 percent of Americans—46.2 million people —were reported to be living in poverty in 2010. This represents the highest poverty rate since 1993; the rate has increased 2.6 percent since 2007, according to the report.
Seniors showed the least statistically significant increase in poverty, across the age demographics.
The median household income was reported to be $49,445.
The poverty rates and number of people in poverty in 2010 were not statistically different from 2009 in the West, Northeast and Midwest, according to the Bureau report. The South had the highest increase in both poverty rate and number of people in poverty.
Poverty is measured by thresholds applied to households with variable sizes and composition. To see how poverty is calculated, see the table in Appendix B on page 61 of the report.
Unemployment
Across the United States, 9.1 percent of Americans were out of work in July, the latest month for which figures are available.
San Diego county's overall unemployment rate was 10.5 percent in July, according to the state Employment Development Department (EDD). The county figures have not been seasonally adjusted. The highest rate of unemployment in the county was in Imperial Beach (19.9 percent), and the lowest was in Valley Center (5.2 percent).
Ramona's July unemployment rate was 9.8 percent. Out of 26 cities or towns in San Diego county, Ramona had a lower unemployment rate than 15 of them.
The statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in July was 12 percent. This is down half a percent from the last quarter of 2010, which was reported by EDD to be the peak of the recession. The worst unemployment was in Yuba county (19.3 percent), and Marin county had the least unemployment, at 8.1 percent. County figures are not seasonally adjusted.
To get a full overview of state and local unemployment in graphs and tables, click here to visit the EDD website.
