The percent of Missouri's population whose income falls below the federal poverty guidelines increased from 11.8 percent in 1979 to 13 percent in 1989 according to recently released 1990 Population Census data. The number of Missourians with income below the poverty line increased from 582,000 in 1979 to 663,000 in 1989. Missouri poverty rates are close to those of the nation, which increased from 12.4 percent in 1979 to 13.1 percent in 1989.
Poverty is both more prevalent and increasing more rapidly in Missouri's rural counties.
Table 2 shows the poverty rate for Missouri's 17 metropolitan counties increased from 9.8 percent in 1979 to 10.7 percent in 1989. In the 98 nonmetropolitan counties the overall rate increased from 15.8 to 17.3 percent during the 1980s. Although the increase in Missouri's statewide poverty rate was relatively small, the increases were wide-spread. The percentage of population below the poverty level increased in 83 of 115 counties. The poverty rate declined in 32 counties, although for most, the decline was quite small.