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Census: Ohio poverty at more than 30-year high

A new census report shows Ohio's poverty rate is the highest in more than 30 years, and median household incomes are at their lowest levels in more than a quarter century.

Commerce National Bank chief economic adviser James Newton tells The Columbus Dispatch the census survey released Tuesday reflects the hits the state has taken from the recession, the loss of manufacturing jobs and other factors.

Census officials report that 15.3 percent of Ohioans are in poverty, which translates to a family of four living on less than 22 thousand 300 hundred dollars a year. The share of Ohioans living in poverty has never been higher since record-keeping began in 1980.

Also, the state's inflation-adjusted median household income last year was just over 46 thousand dollars. That’s the lowest in records going back to 1984.

Stories from the Associated Press.