Data just out from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate poverty in Oklahoma decreased about 1 percent in 2007, but the state’s poverty rate of nearly 16 percent is still 2.6 percent above the national average. About 557,000 – or nearly one in six – Oklahomans were below the poverty line last year.

In 2007, the federal government established the poverty line at $20,650 in annual household income for a family of four.

Oklahoma’s 2007 median household income was $41,567, up $1,800 from 2006, but 18 percent below the national median household income.

Among Oklahomans in poverty, those faring the worst are women and children. More than 22 percent of Oklahoma children lived in poverty last year, compared to 14.5 percent of working-age adults and 10.1 percent of seniors, the Census Bureau reports.

The poverty rate for Oklahoma women, 17.5 percent, was more than 3 percentage points higher than for men. The figures indicate some 62 percent of Oklahomans in poverty are White, more than double the rates for Hispanics, African-Americans and Native Americans.

“These numbers remind us that while the rising tide of energy prices has been lifting the Oklahoma economy, many families have not managed to make it onto the boat of prosperity,” said Matt Guillory, executive director of Oklahoma Policy Institute.

Guillory said low-income families are the hardest hit in coping with steep price rises in food, gasoline and utility services. And those among the working poor are seldom protected by health insurance. Census figures for 2007 indicate 646,000 Oklahomans, or 18.5 percent of the state population, are without health insurance.

Randall Turk

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