Coming out of the economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, poverty levels in Dallas County showed in 2021 a minimal decline from previous years, although they remained higher than the national average.
Data from the U.S. Census Bureau released Thursday showed that 14.3 percent of Dallas County residents lived below the poverty line, slightly down from 14.6% in 2020. The national rate for 2021 was 12.8%.
The trend for densely populated metropolitan cities to share an outsized portion of people living in poverty isn’t unusual, said Cullum Clark, director of the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative.
“There is just a natural tendency … for lower-income people to live in the core city in places with a certain amount of public transit and social services,” Clark said. “That’s just the way it is everywhere.”
The census data also showed that most racial and ethnic groups in Dallas County saw small rises in income from 2020 to 2021, a trend that the census bureau identified nationwide.
According to data from the 2021 American Communities survey, poverty in Dallas County increased slightly in most racial and ethnic groups, except Hispanics. Poverty among white-only people rose from 7 percent in 2020 to 7.5%; among Blacks, it went from 19.1% to 20.4%, and among Asians, from 9.7% to 10.9% The rate for Hispanics decreased from 18.4% to 16.4%.
“The continued response to the COVID-19 pandemic, rising inflation, shifts in worker composition, and other macroeconomic conditions also shaped the experiences of households in 2021,” said the census bureau in a report on income in the U.S.
Dallas County also lagged behind the national average in childhood poverty. About 21.2% of children under 5 and 20.5% of children 5-17 years old were poor. Both categories are higher than national levels.
According to the Dallas-based research group Child Poverty Action Lab (CPAL,) children who grow up in poverty face worse education, economic and health outcomes than their affluent peers.
Nationwide, a census report released Tuesday showed that COVID-relief programs and tax credits helped cut childhood poverty by 46% in 2021.
Owen Wilson-Chavez, a senior director at CPAL, said the federal subsidies are just one piece in reducing child poverty but it is also crucial for communities to provide affordable, stable and secure housing.
“We really need to make sure we strengthen the systems that are meant to serve and support families, not just in Dallas, but everywhere,” Wilson-Chavez said.
Other urban North Texas counties had significantly lower poverty rates, according to the census data.
Collin County had 6.9% of people living in poverty in 2021; Denton County had 7.5%; and Tarrant County had 11.6%.
According to the U.S Census Bureau, a person under 65 is considered to be below the poverty level if their income is less than $14,097 per year. For a family of four, a yearly income below $27,740 is considered below the poverty threshold.
The median income per household in Dallas County went from $61,870 in 2020 to $63,464 in 2021. The Census Bureau uses the median income to minimize outliers in income distribution.
Census data on median income by year showed disparities in money distribution across races and ethnicities from 2020 to 2021. The white population (neither Hispanic nor Latino) saw a rise in their earnings of $2,400 from 2020, with a median income of $86,462 in 2021. This was the second highest salary among races and ethnic groups, only behind the median salary for Asian people in Dallas County, of $86,848.
People of two or more races had the lowest median income, with $61,203. This demographic group actually saw a $2,050 decrease in their earnings in 2020, data shows. Hispanics or Latinos had a median income of $56,804 in 2021.
National median income for 2021 was $75,412 for white people, $46,774 for Blacks, and $60,566 for Hispanics or Latinos. The data released Thursday calculated median income for the past 12 months with 2021 inflation adjustments.
Housing costs increasing
The new census data also showed higher housing costs for D-FW residents, a trend that is changing the economic landscape of a state that historically boasted affordable homes and higher wages.
About 8% of homeowners with a mortgage in the D-FW metro area who make between $50,000 to $74,999 are considered housing cost-burdened, which means they spend 30 percent or more of their income on housing costs.
“That combination of being a place where you can make a little bit higher than average income, but have cheaper than average housing had been a very powerful source of the North Texas miracle and the tremendous influx of people in businesses,” Clark said.
He added: “This is a crossover from the world we have known that helped to make North Texas what it is to a world where we really have to take more seriously the impact that housing affordability challenges have on the economy.”
The rising rents and housing costs across the D-FW area are further cementing roadblocks for historically excluded demographic groups to generate wealth.
“Affordability is a major issue because the price point of the new homes being built is not within what most Black and brown people can afford,” said James McGee, president and chair of Southern Dallas Progress Community Development Corp.
This leads to Black and Hispanic families increasingly becoming lifelong renters, excluding them from earning equity from homeownership over time, McGee said.
In Dallas County, about 47% of homeowners are white, 31.3% are Hispanic or Latino, 17.6% are Black and 6.5% are Asian. Of the renter-occupied units, 32.6% are inhabited by Black residents, 31.8% are white, 31.4% are Latino and 6.3% are Asian.
Without the aggressive investment in affordable housing production and a steady increase of wages among other things, disparities by race will still persist in the D-FW area, McGee said.
Other findings from the 2021 American Communities Survey 1-year estimate for the D-FW area:
- Computer and internet use: 97% of households have a computer and nearly 93% have an internet subscription.
- Languages spoken at home: 68.5% of all residents speak English only and 21.9% speak Spanish.
- Disability status of the civilian noninstitutionalized population: 10% of people are disabled.
- D-FW demographic breakdown: Total population: 7.76 million. 42.8% are white, 29% Hispanic or Latino of any race, 15.8% Black or African American and 7.6% Asian.
