A previous post peered at poverty from a 30,000 foot view: the state, the metro area, and the overall 11-county area. For this follow-up, we take it “more local”: to the county. Again, we consider data trends from 1990 to 2021.

Figure 1 below shows that, in the vast majority of counties, poverty rates are higher in 2021 than they were about 30 years ago (1990).  The most appreciable increase in poverty occurred in the 2000s, driven by the dot com bust and more impactfully, the Great Recession. Clayton, DeKalb, Fulton, and Rockdale have the highest poverty rates as of the latest data (2021).It’s notable that overall rates in each of those higher-poverty counties have declined from 2010 to 2021, and in the case of Fulton, rates have declined continually from 1990 to 2021. The most encouraging trend jumps out– in only two cases (Douglas and Henry County) are poverty rates higher in 2021 than they were in 2010.

Figure 2 that follows  illustrates the broad variation among poverty rates (as of the 2021 1-year ACS) by age group, both amongst and within counties of the ARC Region. The under-18 rates are higher in all areas charted except for Fayette County—the area with the smallest share of persons under 18: there, child poverty rate is lower than that of those aged 18-64.

Again, overall poverty is lessening over time–at least since 2010–particularly in the urban areas of our state. But looking at the changes in the poverty rates by age (as shown in Figure 3) tells a more nuanced story. The most dramatic drops in poverty rates 2010 to 2021 are in the under- 18 cohort, which is we must emphasize the age group that retains, by far, the highest poverty rates of any cohort as of the 2021 ACS . Still, the improvements in child poverty in core areas like DeKalb, Fulton, and Cobb are heartening. Poverty among the 18 and under increased only in Douglas and Henry Counties, 2010 and 2021–and was at a low rate (relative to other counties) in 2021. The prime workforce poverty rate is obviously lower in every county than the rates for other age groups, and  ticked up only in a very few counties (e.g. Douglas and Fayette) with relatively small populations in that working-age cohort. The poverty rates for those aged 65 and up declined in six of the eleven counties, and increased notably only in one county (Clayton) between 2010 and 2021.