Child poverty rate increases in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana counties

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A report states 28.1 percent of children in Mahoning County live in poverty.

The 2009 figure comes from the Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio, a child advocacy group. The group used U.S. Census estimates to determine the poverty rate for each of Ohio’s 88 counties.

The report shows 31 Ohio counties had child poverty rates of 25 percent or higher in 2009. The number of counties with at least one in four children living in poverty was only 15 one year earlier.

Child poverty increased in Mahoning County from 25.7 percent in 2008 to 28.1 percent in 2009.

Trumbull County is among the 16 counties to see its child poverty percentage reach go from below 25 percent in 2008 to at least 25 percent in 2009.

In 2008, the county’s child poverty rate was 23.3 percent. It rose to 25 percent in 2009.

The poverty rate increased in Columbiana County from 21.1 percent in 2008 to 23.2 percent in 2009.