The poverty rate in Arizona may be down, but it's well above average. The latest Census numbers show Arizona posted a sharp drop in its poverty rate in the last two years. That's the good news. The bad news; our state still has some of the highest poverty rates in the country.
Cronkite News reports Arizona's poverty rate of 16.4% is well above the national rate of 14%. And there's quite a range as well, from a low of ten-percent in Greenlee County to a high of 38-percent in neighboring Apache County.
Experts attribute the recession recovery, low wage jobs and low education rates.