The Census Bureau has released the 2010 report on poverty in America. Follow this site for in depth reports, and lots of charts, on this topic during the next week.

For the 2002 report, the category the Census Bureau called “Black” was changed to read “Black alone” and a new category was added called “Black alone or in combination”. For this piece, the data was drawn from the first two categories.

Black poverty in America is tied to two measures, the unemployment rate and the poverty rate for single mom families. Despite the existence of deep poverty in America’s black community, the historical rates are much lower than in the 1960′s. The trend has continued for the last twenty years, which saw a record low for the black poverty rate.

Black poverty rate in America from 1965 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Black poverty in America from 1990 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

The 2010 poverty report reveals the following about blacks and black families in America.

• Of the just under 40 million black in the United States, 31.4 million live in families. That is 81%.
• 14.2 million blacks live in families with a female head of household and no husband present. That represents 37% of all American blacks.
• 10.7 million blacks in America live in poverty. 27.4%.
• 26% of those living in black families live in poverty.
• 41% of those living in black single mom households live in poverty.
• A staggering 54.6% of all black Americans in poverty live in single mom homes.

Poverty rate for American blacks living in families 1990-2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Poverty rate for black Americans living in families headed by a single female. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Family status of American blacks living in poverty in 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Future pieces in this series will examine poverty in America by race, by citizenship and will also look at wage equity for women.

All charts were prepared from the data in the report by Charles Simmins.

The Census Bureau’s report titled Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2008 contains information on the poverty rates and total persons in poverty for several races. The races are self-defined by the individuals surveyed, and by the Census Bureau in standard terms that may not be helpful in studying this topic.

Hispanics are listed as “of any race”. Blacks have been categorized in two differing ways, Black Alone and Black Alone or in Combination. Let’s look at how the two definitions for Black in the report compare for 2008.

However you define Black, these numbers are well above those for the entire population. Still, it is a matter of perspective. For the purposes of this post, the numbers graphed are from the Black alone category. Click on the graph for a larger image.

Historical graph of black poverty rates in America through 2008

Historical graph of black poverty rates in America 1990 to 2008

It is very clear that black poverty rates in the United States are near record lows. Other than 1999 through 2001, they would be a record low. The Clinton bubble drove the rates to unheard of lows, but the bursting of that bubble seems to have revealed a core poverty rate that seems inflexible, somewhere between 24-25% of the total Black population.

Let’s look at one facet of Black poverty that is often cited as significant, single parent, female head of household. For the purposes of this post, the numbers graphed are from the Black alone category. Click on the graph for a larger image.

Historical poverty rates for Black single parent households headed by females through 2008

Historical poverty rates for Black single parent households headed by females 1990 to 2008

Rates are at near historical lows, but appear to be edging upward, advancing from 37% to 40% in the last eight years. Still, the 2008 is lower than any rate from 1999 on back.

Again, the numbers suggest a core of Black people in poverty, in this case people living in single parent households headed by a female.

It is the people who are in permanent poverty, the core, that ought to worry Americans. The data appears to suggest that despite some of the best economies of the last several generations, a group of Blacks failed to benefit from the successes. Single family households seem to be at the center of this, accounting for nearly 2/3 of those in core poverty.