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Poverty
in Maine - 2006
Executive Summary
This report presents
a statewide and county-by-county picture of poverty in Maine in
2006. In 2005-2006, the Maine Community Action Association
contracted with the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the
University of Maine to update and expand our earlier report, Poverty
in Maine: 2003, which also was produced with funding from
the Maine Community Action Association. The intent is to build
upon the Maine State Planning Office’s "Annual Report
Card on Poverty in Maine," to provide a more detailed
examination of poverty at the county and local levels.
Information is based on datasets from: the food stamp program
administered by the Maine Department of Health and Human
Services; the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
administered by the Maine State Housing Authority (MSHA) through
the community action agencies; the free and reduced school lunch
program administered by the Maine Department of Education;
unemployment data from the Maine Department of Labor; updated
U.S. Census information on poverty, income, and population; the
federal Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Economic
Information System (REIS); and information developed by the
Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP) regarding livable wages
in Maine. The indicators are a subset of standard ones used in
the United States in evaluating the extent of poverty, assessing
needs, and measuring services and benefits aimed at low-income
populations. The report includes a statewide and
county-by-county view of selected indicators and of trends since
the 2003 report, as well as individual "poverty
profiles" and trends for each county.
Poverty
and Demography
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Maine’s
estimated individual poverty rate in 2003 was 10.7%,
almost two percentage points lower than the national
average.
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Highest rates
of poverty in 2003 were in Washington County (16.1%),
followed by Aroostook and Somerset counties (14.3%).
Lowest poverty rates were in York and Sagadahoc counties
(8.3%) and in Cumberland County (8.4%). During the four
years since the decennial Census (2000-2003), the poverty
rate in Maine rose between 2000 and 2002. Though it
declined slightly in 2003, it remained higher than in
2000. The poverty rate trend in most counties mirrored
that of the state as a whole, with the exception of
Oxford, Piscataquis, and Washington counties where the
rate in 2003 was lower than in 2000. Cumberland was the
only county in which the poverty rate rose each year
between 2000 and 2003.
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Census
estimates (2005) indicate that counties with the highest
proportion of the population who are working-age (18-64)
are Franklin, Penobscot, and Cumberland. Lincoln,
Washington, Piscataquis, and Aroostook counties have a
higher proportion of elders than other counties. Sagadahoc
and Androscoggin counties have the highest proportion of
the population in the under-18 age group of any county.
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The level of
educational attainment is one of the most important
population characteristics affecting economic well-being.
In the
2000 Census 69.3% of Maine’s population reported lacking
a college degree (associate
or higher), compared with 61.3% in the other New England
states and 69.3% nationally. In Somerset, Piscataquis, and
Washington counties, close to 80% of the population lacks
a college degree.
Income
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Maine’s
median household income (2003 Census estimate) is below the
national average, and Maine is in the lower tier of states in
that measure. There continues to be a wide range of income
across Maine’s counties. Aroostook, Piscataquis, and
Washington counties had median household incomes close to or
more than 20% below the state level of $39,212 in 2003, and
Cumberland and York counties had median household incomes
about 20% above that level.
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The Bureau of
Economic Analysis measure of personal income includes both
cash and non-cash income: net earnings; income from
investments; and income from government transfer payments
(e.g., Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, food stamps). In
Maine, earnings account for a smaller proportion of total
personal income than in the nation as a whole, while income
from transfer payments and investments is a higher proportion,
due in part to Maine’s older population. Transfer payments
accounted for 19% of personal income in the state in 2004, but
were close to or greater than one-quarter of personal income
in Washington, Aroostook, Piscataquis, Somerset, and Oxford
counties.
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A
"livable wage" is the level estimated for a household to maintain a basic needs budget and be
self-sufficient from any benefits or assistance. The level
varies depending both on household size and characteristics and
on regional differences in cost of living, particularly
housing and child care costs. There is a gap between poverty
levels and a basic needs budget (livable wage) in all of Maine’s
counties and metropolitan areas. Counties in the state with
higher median incomes and lower poverty rates, such as
Cumberland and York, also have higher living costs, but a
smaller proportion of the population is eligible for benefits
which are based on federal poverty guidelines.
Employment
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Maine’s
monthly average unemployment rate of 4.8% in 2005 was lower
than the national average of 5.1%. Cumberland, Knox, Lincoln,
Sagadahoc and York counties had unemployment rates lower than
the state average. Aroostook, Piscataquis, Somerset and
Washington counties had unemployment rates considerably above
the state average; Washington County’s rate of 8.4% was the
highest in the state.
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In the period
from 2002 to 2005, the year 2003 had the highest unemployment rate in both Maine and in
the nation. Unlike the nation’s, Maine’s unemployment rate
was higher in 2005 than in 2002. Even though Maine’s
unemployment rate remains below the national rate, the gap has
narrowed since 2002, a possible indicator that Maine has
lagged behind the national economic recovery during this time
period.
Benefits
and Assistance
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Statewide in
FY2004-05, 15.7% of all households and 12.3% of the population
received food stamps. Household participation rates in the
food stamp program ranged from less than 10% in Hancock
County, to more than 20% in Washington, Somerset, Aroostook,
and Androscoggin counties. Somerset and Washington counties
each had over 19% of their population receiving food stamps,
while in Hancock, Sagadahoc, and York counties, less than 9%
of the population were food stamp recipients.
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From FY2002 to
FY2005, the number of Maine households receiving food stamps
increased by almost 50%; food stamp use also increased
nationally, by 26% from 2000 to 2004. In Maine, several
federal and state policy and procedure changes played a part
in this increase. All counties had increases in food stamp
use, ranging from 25% in Aroostook County, to more than 60% in
Hancock and Knox counties.
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In FY2004-05,
8.8% of all households statewide participated in the Low
Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Household
participation rates ranged from a low of 3.4% in Cumberland
County to more than 18% in Franklin, Washington, and Aroostook
counties. In Aroostook, Franklin and Washington counties, more
than one-quarter of all elderly households received LIHEAP
benefits in FY2004-05.
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More than
one-third of school children statewide in FY2005-06 were
eligible for the free and reduced school lunch program. In
Washington, Piscataquis and Somerset counties, close to half
were eligible. From FY2003 to FY2006, the proportion of
students eligible for free and reduced school lunch increased
each year statewide and in most counties.
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