HIDALGO COUNTY -- A recent U.S Census report showed that Hidalgo County has one of the highest poverty rates in the Nation.
According to the Census those living at or below the poverty line gross $22,000 or less a year. Some disagree with this number.
“The real figure, we think, when looking at the real factors in terms of the economy it should be like 35,000 or 37,000,” said sociology instructor at STC, David Arizmendi.
He said the formula used does not factor in a very important part of where most people’s money goes.
“The factor is that housing is really a major expense which is not factored into the formula,” said Arizmendi. “If you were to add that it would change dramatically.”
If this were done, Arizmendi said the number of people living at the poverty level could double. He said this would be unacceptable for our country.
“If you say we have 13 percent poverty rate in the country and those numbers shoot up 25 percent that would be unacceptable politically,” said Arizmendi.
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