1,000 SURVEYS CAN'T BE WRONG: WE BE STILL AT DA BOTTOM

NO. 1 POOREST: BROWNSVILLE-HARLINGEN, TEXAS

> Median household income: $32,093

> Median home value: $76,200

> Unemployment rate: 6.8%

> Poverty rate: 35.2%

(The typical Brownsville-Harlingen, Texas household earns just $32,093 a year, or $21,564 less than the typical American household. The city is by several measures the poorest in the country. More than 35% of area residents live in poverty, the highest poverty rate in the country. Low incomes in the area may be the result of a poorly educated workforce. Just 64.6% of Brownsville area adults have at least a high school diploma, 22.3 percentage points fewer than the national figure. About 29% of area households rely on food stamps, the third highest share of any metro area in the country.

The area is known locally for its colonias — communities the government formed in the 1950s on worthless agricultural land. There are roughly 2,300 of these neighborhoods in Texas, mostly located along the Mexican border.)

By MSN-Money

U.S. median household income increased in 2014 to $53,657, an increase of roughly $600 from the previous year. Still, U.S. incomes have yet to recover to pre-recession levels. Adjusting for inflation, U.S. 2014 median income was still below its 2009 level.

Periods of recession and economic boom have an impact on the overall wealth of a country, as well as on metropolitan areas — although to varying degrees. In most cases, the impact does not change the relative wealth of a metropolitan area, especially of the most affluent and extremely impoverished metropolitan areas.

People living in Brownsville-Harlingen, Texas, where the typical household earns $32,093 a year, likely have a considerably different life from those living in San Jose, California, where the median household income is approximately three times that of Brownsville’s. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the wealthiest and poorest cities in the U.S.
Income and poverty levels, although not always perfectly correlated, are closely related. The federal poverty threshold — $11,770 for a single individual — is based on the income necessary to sustain a household, and depends on the age of the home owner, the family size, and the number of children. As a result, poverty tends to be more prevalent in places with exceptionally low incomes. 

Notably, the poverty rates in all 25 poorest metro areas exceeds the national poverty rate of 15.5%. More than 35% of residents in Brownsville-Harlingen, for example, live in poverty, the highest poverty rate nationwide.

An area’s labor market can be a significant factor in determining incomes. A lower unemployment rate is often a sign of a healthy, competitive job market. Not only are more people employed, but also workers are more likely to be better paid. In addition, the more occupants in a household who are able to bring in income, the higher that region’s wealth will be. Of the 25 wealthiest metropolitan areas, the unemployment rates in 19 are equal to or lower than the national rate. All but one of the 25 poorest areas have higher than average jobless rates.
In an interview with 24/7 Wall St. Charles Varner, associate director at Stanford University’s Center on Poverty and Inequality, explained that while employment is an important component in determining the affluence of a given area, how people are employed is likely just as important. In many of the country’s wealthiest metro areas, Varner observed, a high share of employees work technology and finance positions. Indeed, in the majority of the high-wealth metro areas — such as the Washington D.C. region, the San Francisco Bay Area, and San Jose — a very high share of workers are employed in professional and scientific positions, which tend to pay better than many other industries.

To read entire article, click on link: http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/savingandinvesting/americas-richest-and-poorest-cities/ar-AAfu8Kv?ocid=se