Analysis: NYC Poverty Rate Held Steady From 2000 To 2012
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A new analysis by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg finds the city's poverty rate has held steady since 2000, the only large U.S. city not to see a spike in the statistic.
The city's Center for Economic Opportunity released its survey Thursday. It used U.S. Census Bureau data from 2000 and 2012. The review found that the nation's largest city maintained a 21.2 percent poverty rate in the 12-year span. It found the poverty rate in the country's 19 other largest cities increased on average by 36 percent.
The survey found the poverty rate increases ranged from 3 percent in El Paso, Texas., to 88 percent in Indianapolis, Ind.
Nationwide, the poverty rate as a whole increased by 28 percent during the period.
Bloomberg received the Award for Public Leadership from the Children's Aid Society on Thursday night for his administration's work combating poverty.
"Of course, poverty is still too high here," Bloomberg said in his acceptance speech, according to a transcript released to the media before the ceremony. "And keeping poverty from going up is not enough. We all know that. But having no increase in poverty is a lot better than the significant increases every other major American city has experienced."
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