With a new documentary on poverty in America airing Monday night on HBO, I thought it was a good time to start a thread on poverty in Oklahoma City. The documentary is called Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert.

The following poverty statistics (2012) are for the entire state; however, Oklahoma City's rate of poverty (17.6 percent) is higher than the state's overall rate (more than 16 percent). Approximately 640,000 Oklahomans live below the poverty level. Approximately 107,855 Oklahoma Cityans live below the poverty level. (That is 17.6 percent of the city-only population, 599,199+)

  • Oklahoma has the 16th highest poverty rate in the nation.
  • Since 1969, the poverty rate for Oklahomans 65 and over has decreased dramatically. It is now at 10 percent (2012).
  • During the same period of time, the poverty rate for Oklahoma children under 18 increased. It went from 20 percent to 24 percent.
  • In Oklahoma, the current (2012) poverty rate for children under 5 is 31 percent.
  • According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, Oklahoma has the nation's third-highest rate of people working at or below the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
  • Single parents who work full-time for minimum wage fall below the poverty line.
  • The poverty rate for single-parent households headed by females is 37 percent. In married-couple families, it's 9 percent.
  • The poverty rate is 28 percent for adults over 25 who didn't finish high school. It's 15 percent for those who graduated high school. It's 5 percent for those who graduated college.
  • The poverty rate is 30 percent for African Americans; 29 percent for Hispanics; 23 percent for Native Americans. It's 13 percent for non-Hispanic Caucasians.


SOURCE: NewsOK, January 2014