{{Short description|Classification for United States counties}} [[File:US map. Counties in persistent poverty.png|thumb|A map of the United States highlighting counties defined as "persistent poverty counties."]] {{see also|Cycle of poverty}} A '''persistent poverty county''' is a classification for [[county (United States)|counties]] in the United States that have had a relatively high rate of [[poverty]] over a long period.
A 2009 [[U.S. federal law]] defined a persistent poverty county as one in which "20 percent or more of its population [has lived] in poverty over the past 30 years" according to the [[US Census|Census]], which is done every 10 years.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PLAW-111publ5 |title=American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (110th Congress Public Law 111-5) |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |date=February 17, 2009 |accessdate=2012-10-07}}</ref> The [[Economic Research Service]] (ERS) of the [[U.S. Department of Agriculture]] categorizes non-metropolitan counties by their dominant economic foundation and by characteristic policy type. Persistent poverty counties are defined as those where 20% or more of the county population in each of the last four decennial Censuses had poverty level household incomes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/atlas-of-rural-and-small-town-america/documentation |title=Atlas of Rural and Small-Town America: Documentation |publisher=Economic Research Service |date= July 16, 2020 | access-date=2012-10-07}}</ref>
In 2000, there were 386 such counties concentrated largely in the [[Mississippi Delta|Delta]] South, Central [[Appalachia]], [[Rio Grande Valley]], the Northern [[Great Plains]], and western [[Alaska]]. The average poverty rate in these counties was approximately 29% in 1989.
A 2020 [[GAO]] study identified 409 persistent poverty counties, as measured by the 1990 and 2000 censuses and the 2017 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-20-518 | title= Targeting Federal Funds: Information on Funding to Areas with Persistent or High Poverty | publisher= U.S. Governmental Accountability Office| date = July 16, 2020}}</ref> These counties are largely rural and predominantly located in the [[Southern United States]].
Many of these counties are served by the [[Delta Regional Authority]] or [[Appalachian Regional Commission]].
This data does not include unincorporated [[territories of the United States]].
==See also== *[[Poverty in the United States]] *[[List of lowest-income places in the United States]] *[[List of lowest-income counties in the United States]] *[[List of U.S. states by minimum wage]]
== References == {{Reflist}}
*{{CRS|article = Report for Congress: Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition|url = http://ncseonline.org/nle/crsreports/05jun/97-905.pdf|author= Jasper Womach}}
[[Category:Poverty in the United States]]