percent. (See figure 3). According to one study, migration has played a smaller role than have generally improving economic conditions in the deconcentration of poverty in the South, and in fact, the South had net inmigration of poor persons during the late 1970's.2 It should also be noted that according to the same study most poor persons were native to the region in which they lived at the time of the study; only in the West region did inmigrants constitute a majority of the poverty population. In 1985, the poor were less likely than the nonpoor to live in the West (19 percent versus 21 percent) and Northeast (17 percent versus 22 percent), while similar proportions lived in the Midwest (25 percent).3

The poverty rate remains highest in the South (16 percent in 1985) and lowest in the Northeast (12 percent). The rates in the Midwest (14 percent) and West (13 percent) were not significantly different from each other. The higher poverty rate in the South is in part associated with the racial composition of that region (19 percent of the population in the South is Black, compared with 12 percent in the United States as a whole). About 57 percent of the Nation's poor Blacks lived in the South in 1985. The poverty rate for Blacks living in the South (33 percent) was not statistically

2See Larry H. Long, Interregional Migration of the Poor: Some Recent Changes, U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, Series P-23, No. 73, 1978.

3There was no significant difference in the proportions of the poor living in the West (19 percent) and Northeast (17 percent).

Figure 3.

Regional Distribution of the Population, by Poverty Status: 1985

different from that for Blacks living in the Midwest in 1985 (35 percent), but higher than the poverty rate for Blacks in the Northeast (28 percent) or in the West (20 percent).

Distribution by type of residence. The poverty population in 1985 was less concentrated in the Nation's metropolitan areas than were persons above the poverty level. About 70 percent of the poor lived in one of the Nation's 280 metropolitan statistical areas (MSA's), compared with 79 percent of persons above the poverty level (table C). In the South, the least metropolitan of regions, 61 percent of the poor and 74 percent of the nonpoor lived in MSA's. Within metropolitan areas, the majority (62 percent) of persons with income above the poverty level in 1985 lived in suburban areas while the majority of the poor (61 percent) lived in central cities.

For the Nation as a whole, the poverty rate was lowest in suburban areas (8 percent), while the rates for central cities (19 percent) and nonmetropolitan areas (18 percent) were not statistically different from each other. There was, however, some regional variation in

"The metropolitan area definition used here refers to the population living in metropolitan statistical areas (MSA's) defined as of October 12, 1984. See the definitions section for further discussion. For convenience's sake, the territory inside metropolitan areas but outside central cities is referred to here as "suburban." It should be remembered, however, that some MSA's include considerable territory and some population beyond what would ordinarily be considered "suburban" since they are by definition generally composed of whole counties.

the rates, with the poverty rate in the nonmetropolitan South (22 percent) being higher than that for central cities of that region (18 percent). The South's nonmetropolitan area poverty rate was also higher than the nonmetropolitan rate in the other regions combined (16 percent).

Families. Between 1969 and 1985 the number of families maintained by women with no husband present increased from 11 percent to 16 percent of all families, from 8 to 12 percent of nonpoor families, and from 36 percent to 48 percent of all poor families (table D). However, the proportion of female householder families among all poor families leveled off in the 1980's and was actually slightly lower in 1985 than in 1978. Such families have a considerably higher poverty rate than other family types: 34 percent of the Nation's families maintained by a woman with no husband present had incomes below their poverty threshold, compared with about 7 percent of married-couple families and 13 percent of families maintained by a man with no wife present. The majority (54 percent) of the Nation's 12.5 million poor children under 18 years of age were in families maintained by a woman alone.

The proportion of poor families that had a female householder with no husband present was higher in 1985 for Blacks than for Whites (73 percent versus 39 percent). The comparable figures were considerably lower in 1969 (54 percent for Blacks and 30 percent for Whites) but neither the proportion of poor Black nor White families that were maintained by women has changed much during the 1980's, and both were as high in the latter half of the 1970's as they were in 1985. The poverty rate for White families maintained by

a woman with no spouse present was about 27 percent in 1985; for Blacks the figure was about 51 percent. Regardless of the age group of the householder, families maintained by women with no spouse living in the household had higher poverty rates than other families. For example, 74 percent of families with a female householder under age 25 had income below the poverty level in 1985, compared with 16 percent of other families with a householder of this age. Families with a female householder and no spouse present accounted for 61 percent of all poor families with householders under age 25 and 57 percent of poor families with a householder in the 25-34 age group.

Householders in poor families tended to be younger than those in nonpoor families. For example, 13 percent of poor families had a householder under age 25, compared with 4 percent of nonpoor families (about 30 percent of families in this age category had income below the poverty level). Only 10 percent of poor families had a householder 65 years old and older, compared with 17 percent of nonpoor families; the poverty rate for families in this age group was 7 percent in 1985.

Reflecting, in part, this younger age composition of householders, about 77 percent of the Nation's poor families had related children under 18 years living in the household, compared with 50 percent of nonpoor families in 1985. For families with children under 18 years, the mean number of children per family was 2.23 for the poor and 1.77 for nonpoor families in 1985.

Unrelated individuals. In 1985, there were about 6.7 million unrelated individuals in the Nation with incomes below the poverty level. Unrelated individuals are per

sons who live alone or with nonrelatives only (each unrelated person's income is treated separately in determining their poverty status).5 While most unrelated individuals live alone, poor unrelated individuals are somewhat less likely to live alone than those who are not poor (62 versus 69 percent). The poverty rate for all unrelated individuals was 21 percent in 1985, 20 percent for those living alone, and 25 percent for those sharing living quarters.

Unrelated individuals have become an increasingly large share of the total population during the 1970's and 1980's, increasing from 7 percent of the U.S. total in 1969 to 13 percent in 1985. While unrelated individuals account for a disproportionate share of the poverty population (20 percent in 1985), the proportion of the poor accounted for by this group has changed little during the past 15 years (varying between 19 and 22 percent).6

Years of school completed. Half of all poor family householders 25 years old and over (by which age most persons have completed their formal education) had not

"Unrelated individuals under age 15 are excluded from the poverty universe. They are not included in either the numerator or denominator of poverty rates.

It should be noted that the CPS is primarily a household survey, and thus, poor persons who are homeless are generally not included in these poverty figures.

graduated from high school, compared with only 23 percent of family householders above the poverty level. The poverty rate in 1985 was 21 percent for families with a householder who did not complete high school, 10 percent for those householders with high school but no years of college completed, and 4 percent for families with householders with 1 or more years of college completed. This general relationship (poverty rates decreasing as years of school completed increase) holds for householders regardless of race or Hispanic origin, although large differences exist between these groups within education category. For example, 25 percent of Black family householders with a high school diploma but no college completed had income below the poverty level, compared with only 8 percent of White family householders and 15 percent of Hispanic family householders. ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS

Work experience. About half of the Nation's family householders with income below the poverty level in 1985 worked at some time during the year, and 16 percent worked year-round, full-time. Of those who did

"A person working year-round, full-time at the current minimum wage- $3.35 per hour- earns about $6,970 per year. Although this annual income is above the average poverty threshold for an unrelated individual ($5,469), it is below the poverty level for families of any size except two-person families with a householder aged 65 and over, whose average threshold was $6,503 in 1985.

not work in 1985, about 24 percent indicated the reason as illness or disability, 15 percent indicated that they were retired, 14 percent reported that they could not find work, 40 percent reported that they were "keeping house," and the remaining 6 percent were going to school or gave some other reason.

The proportion of poor family householders who worked has changed little during the 1980's, after falling slightly during the 1970's (from 55 percent in 1969). The proportion of poor family householders who worked year-round, full-time declined from 22 percent in 1969 to 16 percent in 1985. The proportion of family householders above the poverty level who worked was 80 percent in 1985 and 87 percent in 1969, an even steeper decline than the figures for poor family householders. Among female householders with children under age 6 and no husband present there was a large difference in the 1980's in the work experience of those who were poor versus those who were not. (See figure 4.) Only about 38 percent of poor women in this family situation worked in 1985 (7 percent year-round, fulltime), compared with 87 percent of nonpoor women householders in a comparable family type (59 percent year-round, full-time). These large differences in the work experience of poor and nonpoor female householders with children under 6 years remained even after controlling for the number of children (one, or two or

Figure 4.

more). In 1985, there were about 1.8 million poor families with children under 6 years of age maintained by a woman with no spouse present, representing 25 percent of all poor families.

Of the 3.7 million poor families composed of a married couple or a male householder with no wife present, 61 percent of the householders worked at some time in 1985, and 25 percent worked year-round, full-time. The householder in 1.4 million of these families did not work in 1985. The reason given for not working was that they were ill or disabled (34 percent), retired (32 percent), could not find work (18 percent), or some other reason (17 percent).

Type of income. About 62 percent of the Nation's poor families gained at least some of their income in 1985 from their own earnings, and earnings accounted for 49 percent of the aggregate money income of the poor in 1985. (For nonpoor families, 89 percent received some amount of earnings which accounted for 82 percent of their total income.) Income other than earnings was received by 77 percent of the poor (about half of those who received income from a source other than earnings also had some earnings income). Public assistance (principally Aid to Families with Dependent Children) was the

8 Based on a special tabulation of 1986 CPS data.

Poor Nonpoor