Posted: 8:00 a.m. Monday, Sept. 21, 2015

Thousands of Butler, Warren residents living in poverty

By Amanda Seitz

Staff Writer

Fewer people in Butler and Warren counties are living in poverty compared to the national average, the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates show.

Still, an estimated 62,000 residents in the two counties live below the poverty level, the data reveals. For a single-person household the poverty threshold sits at roughly $12,000 or less in yearly income while a family of four making $24,000 or less is considered improvised, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

That means thousands of people in the county are bringing home $2,000 or less every month to feed, house and clothe their families.

Butler County’s estimated poverty rate in 2014 was 14.6 percent, slightly lower than the 14.8 percent national average. Meanwhile, Warren County had the lowest poverty rate, 4.5 percent, last year among the 39 Ohio counties surveyed. The survey only includes counties with a population of 65,000 people or more.

The median income in Butler County is an estimated $56,000 and in Warren County it’s more than $72,000 — both counties are higher than the state’s average income.

The most recent poverty data showed no significant changes from the year before, according to the federal bureau.

Butler County’s poverty rate has inched up in recent years. In 2010, for example, 13.5 percent of households were living in poverty. Go back even further to 1999, and the poverty rate sat at 8.7 percent.

Lourdes Ward said many people who seek help from Reach Out Lakota, a West Chester Twp. nonprofit that sponsors programs — including a food and clothing pantry — for families who have fallen on tough times, hold hourly jobs at restaurants or local retailers. Others are elderly or have gone through sudden shock, such as job loss or a divorce, that have left them financially weakened.

She’s worked with the nonprofit for 22 years.

“The faces change but, sadly, the circumstances are similar,” she said. “I would like people to have a little more of an open mind, that hard times effect us all, it doesn’t matter your income level.”