Utah's rural counties remain the most poverty stricken in the state, although the percentage of people in poverty in many rural areas has gone down, according to census data released Thursday.
The release, which details poverty rates for 1998, also places Utah's overall poverty rate as the same as it was in 1997 — when 10 percent of Utah residents were living in poverty. However, the poverty rate among residents younger than 18 went up slightly, from 12.5 percent to 12.7 percent.
Nationally, 12.7 percent of Americans live in poverty, according to the census.
To determine poverty, the Census Bureau uses income thresholds that vary by family size and composition. If a family's total income is less than that family's designated threshold, every member of that family is considered poor. A family of four earning less than about $16,500 is considered to be in poverty.
Rural counties typically have higher fluctuations in poverty rates and lower poverty rates in general because the economy is concentrated in a handful of industries, such as agriculture and mining, said Neil Ashdown, deputy director of the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget.
"That's typically been an issue not just in Utah but in most states," Ashdown said.
More urban counties have a more diversified economy and therefore aren't hit as hard by lags in one sector.
Counties like San Juan that have a large mining industry have done better in recent years because of a high energy demand and increasing prices, he said.
"San Juan County in three categories did much better in 1998 than it did in 1997," he said.
The county's total poverty rate was 30 percent in 1997 and went to 25.6 percent in 1998.
For residents younger than 18, 32.0 percent were in poverty in 1997, compared to 24.8 percent in 1998. Coinciding with lower poverty rates was the median income for San Juan residents, which went up from $26,723 to $28,674 in 1998. Most other counties in the state were almost identical from year to year, and the state totals were exactly the same, Ashdown said.
One reason for San Juan's markedly lower poverty rates could be the oil and gas extraction industries in that area and the fact that people were moving in for mining jobs, causing a boom in construction and services.
Although rural counties have more poverty than urban counties because of the limited number of jobs and economic sectors, the families who are in poverty are the same, says Lynda Varner, executive director of the Housing Authority of Carbon County.
"Most people could become homeless in 90 days," she said. "Cutbacks at Novell are the same as cutbacks at Willow Creek Mine."
When those cutbacks happen in a place like Carbon County, there are fewer fast-food restaurants and other such places for people to find work to get by.
Ashdown says state leaders have recognized the problems with rural Utah economies and are looking at solutions. One such solution is to bring the Smart Sites program to rural areas. Just this year the governor announced plans to place Smart Sites in counties including Cache, Box Elder, Carbon, Emery, San Juan, Iron, Sanpete and Duchesne.
The sites allow outsourcing work and offer trained workers high-speed bandwidth and technology. National and international companies can electronically outsource with the sites for software testing, technical call centers, database management, data entry and Web site development.
The Census Bureau receives the county estimates by using results from the March 1999 Current Population Survey, which asked questions about 1998 income, with food stamp recipients records, information from federal individual income tax returns and 1990 census figures.
The bureau uses income thresholds that vary by family size and composition to determine who is in poverty, and if a family's total income is less than that family's designated threshold, every member of that family is considered poor.
The county in Utah with the highest poverty rate for the general population was San Juan, followed by Piute County with 19 percent, Duchesne County with 18.7 percent, Grand County with 17.7 percent and Uintah County with 17 percent.
Those in Utah with the lowest general poverty rates were Summit and Morgan counties, each with 5.2 percent, Davis County with 6.6 percent, Wasatch County with 7.7 percent and Box Elder County with 8.4 percent. Salt Lake County had 9.1 percent.
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