Image: Oran Viriyincy
Last week, we found out that University District is among the most "balanced" neighborhoods in the nation for homeowners. For those who don't own, especially UW students trying to scrape by, it's a starkly different neighborhood. Per The FYI Guy, U District is home to the highest poverty rate in Seattle where more than 60 percent of residents fall below the poverty line ($11,770/year).
The good(?) news is that Seattle's overall poverty rate is 14.5 percent, which is the lowest among major cities. But of those 90,000 residents, 23,000 of them are college students and graduate students. That gives Seattle the largest concentration of college students below the poverty line amongst major cities.
Of course, there are factors at play that don't show up in census data (financial aid assistance, student loans) but that shouldn't discount difficulties they face.
Beyond student populations, the rest of North Seattle is mostly in good shape financially while the bulk of neighborhoods with large populations under the poverty line can be found in South Seattle. Rainier Beach is 36.2 percent under, South Beacon Hill is 36.5 percent under and South Delridge is 38.2 percent under. First Hill also has a large population (38.1 percent) while Pioneer Square comes in at 43.9 percent).
This also comes on the heels of discovering that the number of homeless people in Seattle and King County increased by about 19 percent over last year to 4,505. That number had actually increased 21 percent the previous year, alerting us to a staggering trend in a region where many folks just want to talk about how great the real estate market looks. 9.6 percent of those polled are veterans and more than 2,000 are under the age of 17.
· What's the poorest part of Seattle? [FYI]
· Seattle's U District & I-District Ranked Among Nation's Most Balanced Neighborhoods [CS]
· Number of homeless in Seattle, King County jumps 19 percent [MyN]
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