One in Five Boston Residents Live in Poverty
According to numbers from the U.S. Census, 21.2 percent of people in Boston live below the poverty level. See how other cities compare.
In the United States, the poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1 percent, according to the U.S. Census. That number was up from 14.3 percent in 2009 and 12.5 percent in 2007.
Boston's poverty rate is higher than the national average, by a notable margin. Also, at 21.2 percent, the percentage of people living in poverty in Boston is more than double the statewide average of 10.5 percent.
Those numbers jump higher under strained circumstances. Nearly half of the city's single mothers living with children younger than five-years-old suffer in poverty. On the other side of the coin, less than 6 percent of Boston's married couples without children live in poverty.
The U.S. Census uses a number of "thresholds" to measure poverty, which you can find here. In the example given by the U.S. Census, using 2010 numbers, a family of five, with a mother, father, great aunt and two children living in the household, would be considered living in poverty if the family income were $26,675 or less.
Surrounding communities:
| Community | Persons below poverty level, 2006-2010 |
| Arlington | 4.9 percent |
| Boston | 21.2 percent |
| Cambridge | 15 percent |
| Chelsea | 24.2 percent |
| Everett | 11.9 percent |
| Lynnfield | 4.1 percent |
| Malden | 12.8 percent |
| Medford | 8.3 percent |
| Melrose | 4.7 percent |
| Reading | 1.7 percent |
| Revere | 14.7 percent |
| Saugus | 5.1 percent |
| Somerville | 14.7 percent |
| Stoneham | 6.5 percent |
| Wakefield | 2.4 percent |
| Winchester | 2.5 percent |
| Winthrop | 10.2 percent |
| Woburn | 5.9 percent |
| Massachusetts | 10.5 percent |
Breakdown within Boston:
| All families | 15.90% |
| With related children under 18 years | 23.80% |
| With related children under 5 years only | 18.10% |
| Married couple families | 5.60% |
| With related children under 18 years | 6.70% |
| With related children under 5 years only | 4.30% |
| Families with female householder, no husband present | 33.40% |
| With related children under 18 years | 42.10% |
| With related children under 5 years only | 48.10% |
| All people | 21.20% |
| Under 18 years | 28.80% |
| Related children under 18 years | 28.50% |
| Related children under 5 years | 26.40% |
| Related children 5 to 17 years | 29.50% |
| 18 years and over | 19.60% |
| 18 to 64 years | 19.50% |
| 65 years and over | 20.50% |
| People in families | 16.60% |
| Unrelated individuals 15 years and over | 29.30% |
