Courtesy Photo / San Antonio Food Bank
San Antonio Food Bank workers hand out consumables during a distribution event.
Even amid San Antonio's rapid growth, the city's median income fell over the past two years, while the number of those living in poverty went up, the
Express-News reports, citing new federal data.
Poverty increased by almost a quarter of a percent in the Alamo City between 2019 and 2021, according to the
U.S. Census Bureau’s one-year American Community Survey.
What's more, San Antonio ranked among the most impoverished big cities in the U.S., coming in at No. 6, the
Express-News reports. The city also had the second-highest poverty rate out of Texas’ large municipalities, falling only behind Houston, according to the data,
released Sept. 15.
The new Census numbers also show that San Antonio residents are actually earning less when adjusted for inflation than they were two-years ago. In 2019, local residents had a median income of $56,963 if figured in 2021 dollars. However, that figure dropped to only $54,923 when adjusted for inflation in 2021, according to the data.
Although San Antonio wasn’t the only Texas to see a decline in real wages over the past two years, its drop was the most significant when compared to other large cities in Texas, according to the
Express-News analysis.
Other Texas cities such as Austin and El Paso also saw a bump in the number of those living in poverty, according to the report. Forth Worth led the way with its total of people living in poverty climbing 2.5%.
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