New data from the U.S. Census Bureau released last Friday, finds Floridians still poorer than they were five years ago, despite the trumpeted economy recovery.
According to the Tallahassee-based Florida Center for Fiscal and Economy Policy, the data showed that in 2013, the percentage of Floridians living in poverty remained unchanged at 17.0 percent compared to 2011, but much higher than the 14.9 percent recorded in the previous five years in 2009.
With a poverty rate of 17.0 percent, Florida ranks the 15th highest in the nation.
Floridians are also worse off when it comes to household income. In 2013, median household income moved up marginally from $45,578 in 2012 to $46,036 in 2013. But, that’s still lower by $2,625 or 5.4 percent from $48,661 in 2009.
Regarding health insurance, the data showed that 3.9 million were without insurance in 2013. And Florida’s 20.0 percent uninsured rate was just slightly down from 2009. Only Texas and Nevada had a higher percentage of residents without health insurance.
By ethnicity, 18.6 percent of white Floridians were uninsured, compared to 24 percent of blacks and 31.3 percent of Hispanics.
The 2013 health insurance data does not include those Floridians who signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. And the percentage of uninsured Floridians is expected to be lower in 2014, owing to Obamacare.
Other key highlights of the Census data:
- About 1 million Florida children under 18 years lived in poverty in 2013
- Florida’s median household income is well below the $51,939 recorded nationwide
- Of the 7.2 million households in Florida, 26.4 percent reported incomes below $25,000 compared with 24.9 percent in 2009. That means, 225,000 more households had income below $25,000 in 2013 than in 2009.
See the full FCFEP paper HERE.
