U.S. State of Michigan has poverty rate of 15 pc

CHICAGO, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- The State of Michigan in the northern part of the U.S. has a poverty rate of 15 percent, higher than the national poverty rate of 12.7 percent and coming out in the 36th place in the country, the latest American Community Survey conducted by the University of Michigan (UM) found.

People considered poor had incomes below the poverty line of 24,250 dollars for a family of four in 2016.

Poverty Solutions, UM's major initiative dedicated to the prevention and alleviation of poverty, has developed a new map by streamlining an overwhelming amount of poverty and well-being data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the United Way, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's County Health Rankings, and others.

The map focuses on eight broad poverty and well-being related indicators, such as poverty rate, percentage of people on food assistance and life expectancy, to provide a snapshot of strengths and challenges in each county of the State of Michigan.

By developing the map, UM hopes to help policymakers, community organizations and the public understand the state of poverty in their communities.

Poverty Solutions has also compiled more than 50 additional indicators with which it plans to create tailored maps for categories such as housing, health and children's issues. Enditem