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August 30, 2007
Buffalo Now Second Poorest City in US
Three-year-old Kaesean Fields checks out the fit of a new backpack filled with school supplies that he received Wednesday at the Buffalo Urban League, courtesy of Citizens Bank. (Buffalo News)
Second only to Detroit.
What horrible news, however unsurprising.
With a poverty rate of nearly 30 percent, Buffalo falls to second-poorest big city in U.S.
Buffalo is the second-poorest big city in the nation, new estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau show.
Nearly 30 percent of its residents are considered poor.
Only Detroit has higher poverty among American cities with populations of more than 250,000.
While sobering, the numbers don't begin to tell the whole story.
For that, you need to look at the faces of the parents struggling to afford school supplies.
Or listen to the single mother living on child support while attending college.
Or talk to the frustrated retiree earning less than $10,000 a year in Social Security benefits.
"There is poverty in Buffalo, but nobody is doing anything about it," said James Murdock, 67.
Murdock retired from his job at a car wash due to illness and now collects $740 a month in Social Security. He lives on the top floor of a church on Broadway.
"They're not doing anything to bring industry back into Buffalo," Murdock lamented Wednesday, "and it seems like nobody's worried about it."
Buffalo's poverty isn't an easy situation to crawl out from under.
New estimates also show Buffalo's median income of $27,850 is the third lowest in the U.S. among large cities, just ahead of Miami and Cleveland.
Posted by caps at August 30, 2007 09:41 AM