This morning, Scioto Analysis released the Ohio Poverty Measure, the most accurate measure of poverty in the state of Ohio to date.
“The Ohio Poverty Measure draws on poverty measures in California, New York City, Oregon, Virginia, and Wisconsin that use American Community Survey data to assess the state of poverty and how safety net measures, taxes, and local cost of living effect them,” said Rob Moore, principal for Scioto Analysis and co-author of the study.
The study found that in 2018, about 9.7% of Ohioans were in poverty and 3.7% of Ohioans were in “deep poverty,” defined as having less than half the income to meet the poverty threshold. The 9.7% poverty rate is below the 12.9% poverty rate reported in the Official Poverty Measure and the 10.4% rate reported in the Supplemental Poverty Measure.
“Improved measures of poverty such as the Ohio Poverty Measure tend to show lower rates of poverty in low-cost states like Ohio due to cost of living adjustments that don’t show up in the Official Poverty Measure,” said Moore.
The measure also found estimates for local poverty rates. According to the measure, the lowest-poverty regions of the state were suburban northwest Franklin County and Delaware County along with the suburban communities of the Twinsburg area in greater Akron and the Strongsville area in greater Cleveland, all with poverty rates under 4%. Meanwhile, the highest-poverty regions in the state were in urban Cleveland, Toledo, and Cincinnati, with poverty rates exceeding 20%.
Poverty rates also varied by demographic groups. While only 8% of seniors in Ohio were in poverty under the measure, about 13% of children were in poverty. White Ohioans only had a poverty rate of 8%, which was lower than all other demographic groups, especially Black Ohioans, who had a poverty rate approaching 23%.
This measure also provides an estimate of the impact of safety net measures. According to the study, an estimated 150,000 Ohioans were pulled out of poverty by the Earned Income Tax Credit, 110,000 Ohioans were pulled out of poverty by SNAP (formerly the “food stamp” program), and nearly 100,000 Ohioans were pulled out of poverty by child and child care tax credits.
The Ohio Poverty Measure improves on past poverty measures in the state by combining the more nuanced approach of the Supplemental Poverty Measure with more fine-grained data collected by the American Community Survey.
“The Official Poverty Measure is based on an outdated definition of poverty: the cost of food times three,” said Moore, “The Ohio Poverty Measure uses consumer spending as a baseline then makes adjustments based on local cost of living, taxes and transfer payments, and unavoidable expenses, providing the most accurate snapshot of poverty in Ohio to date.”