For more than a decade, Oklahoma’s poverty rate has been higher than the national average. That didn’t change in 2017, according to the newly updated Oklahoma Poverty Profile from Oklahoma Policy Institute. In fact, the gap between Oklahoma and the nation has widened in recent years. The Poverty Profile is an annually updated fact sheet on Oklahoma poverty trends and data. Findings in the new Poverty Profile include: - Poverty rates are higher among children than among adults and seniors. More than 1 in 5 Oklahoma children live in a household with income below the poverty line, compared to about 1 in 10 seniors living in poverty.
- 1 in 3 Oklahomans living in poverty are in single-mother households; 1 in 4 are in married couple households.
- The poverty rate is highest among those who did not complete high school and lowest for adults with a college degree.
- Poverty rates are higher in rural and small town Oklahoma than in the major metro areas.
- Though people of color are more likely to experience poverty, the majority of those who are poor in Oklahoma are white.
Oklahoma's poverty rate is high for a number of reasons, from poor health and high uninsured rates to low levels of educational attainment to high levels of low-wage work and the highest incarceration rate in the US. Unless Oklahoma does more work to tackle the causes of poverty, Oklahoma children and families will continue to face serious barriers to prosperity. Before next year's legislative session, OK Policy will release a policy agenda that takes on many of those root causes, and we will continue to work with the advocates and lawmakers who take this problem seriously. You can view the full Poverty Profile on okpolicy.org here or download it as a printable pdf here. | Oklahoma Policy Institute
907 S Detroit Ave, Suite 1005
Tulsa, OK 74120
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