Arizona’s poverty rate higher than national average

Cronkite News reported that an estimated 88,529 Arizonans rose out of the ranks of poverty last year, but that still left about 1 million – or one state resident in seven – living below the poverty level, new data show. The latest Census Bureau figures also show that Arizona’s poverty rate fell faster, but remained higher, than the national average last year.

The numbers did not surprise Arizona experts, who say the state has historically higher levels of poverty, but is coming back faster than the nation because it had so far to climb after being hammered in the recession.

“We have been making strong progress in recent years,” said Dan Hunting, a senior policy analyst at Morrison Institute for Public Policy. “Some of this progress is due to a generally improving economy, and some of it is because the Great Recession hit Arizona particularly hard.”

READ: Poverty rate falls in Arizona, but still exceeds national average