Massachusetts Poverty Declined in 2015, Except For One Age Group

The latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau paint an upbeat picture of Massachusetts' financial health: median earnings up, poverty down. But obscured in those larger numbers is a negative trend for a small but growing portion of the population.

While the state saw its overall number of people living below the federal poverty line decline, that number went up among seniors in the Bay State.

In 2014, 90,432 people over the age of 65 lived below the poverty line, according to the American Community Survey. Those same numbers were updated for 2015 on Thursday, and show that in 2015, 92,468 seniors lived below the poverty line.

Boston College Professor Tiziana Dearing, who co-directs the school's Center for Social Innovation, says there are numerous factors that make it tough for the economic recovery to reach the older generation, even as the rest of the state prospers.

"As we have an increasing population who is aging, it's not surprising to see that population, who may already be vulnerable because of poverty, not be as resilient in the recovery," she told Patch.

One factor in particular is that of social isolation, which Dearing believes is more culturally pervasive in New England, and may mean seniors receive less support, and be less aware of the resources available to assist them.

As the ranks of Massachusetts' senior population swell, so has the number living below the federal poverty line. The number of Bay Staters over 65 went from about 977,000 in 2014 to more than 1 million in the 2015 American Community Survey.

Nationwide, 9 percent of seniors were listed as below the federal poverty level last year, down from 9.5 percent in 2014. Even as the senior population nationwide grew, the number of seniors living below the poverty line dipped in 2015, according to the ACS.

Additionally, the federal poverty line alone doesn't tell the whole story, particularly when it comes to elderly populations, many of whom receive supplementary income or family support that is not part of the measurement. Moreover, some people believe that the U.S. Census Bureau's metrics create an incomplete picture of poverty, one that does not account for high rental housing costs or out-of-pocket medical expenses, for example.

From a big picture perspective, Dearing said, fewer people in poverty doesn't inherently mean there are more or better-paying jobs available. It may mean someone started working a second job or took on more hours in 2015.

"People work hard to get themselves out of poverty," Dearing said. "What can we do to make that easier? That's really the policy question in the face of these kinds of numbers."

Photo by Lisa Edmonds, via Flickr/Creative Commons