According to the U.S. Census American Community Survey (ACS), Indiana is the 14th poorest state in the country. There are many places, big and small, where a lot of people live below the legal poverty line set by the federal government. But the idea of poverty is so complicated that it’s hard to pick out a single town that is the poorest. But we can tell which is the poorest town in Indiana by looking at a number of different factors.
The Poorest Town in Indiana
Because of two main things, the small town of Austin is the poorest in Indiana. Two of the most important signs of poverty were used to find Indiana’s smallest town. The first number was the general poverty rate, which shows how many people live at or below the poverty line. It came from the American Community Survey (ACS). Second, the mean family income shows how well people can meet their basic needs based on the costs of things like food, housing, and other goods.
As of 2022, 24% of people living in Austin were living at or below the poverty line. The total number of people in Indiana living below the poverty line in that year was 12.6%. The number of poor people in Austin was 49% higher than in the rest of Indiana. The average income for a family in Austin was $27,008. The typical household income in Indiana was $61,944, which means that people in Austin made less than half as much each year as other Hoosiers.
Where is Austin in Indiana?
Austin is in the southeast of Indiana. It is in the Jennings Township of Scott County. That’s close to the line where Indiana meets Ohio and Kentucky. Less than 3 square miles is all that Austin is made up of. The county center of Scott County is close to the town of Austin. Scottsburg is bigger on the map and has more people living in it than Austin. Louisville, KY is also only 30 miles away from Austin.
As of the 2020 U.S. Census, just over 4,000 people lived in Austin. This makes it a small town, and its population is going down since 2010. About 15% of people who live in Austin have not finished high school. Most people who live in Austin say they are white, but some say they are mixed race.
Please keep in mind that towns were chosen for this piece. Some big Indiana towns, like Bloomington, may have a higher rate of poverty than Austin. But this piece wants to share information about towns with fewer people.
Poverty in Austin, Indiana
The rise in HIV cases in Austin in 2015 is another thing that is linked to the city’s poverty. Because people in the small town injected drugs for fun, the number of people with HIV rose very quickly. Because of how badly the situation was handled, nothing was done for a long time. Finally, the state and local governments did things like offer free treatment referrals, HIV tests, and other steps to stop the spread of the disease.
In the U.S. and around the world, people who are poor are often more likely to use drugs. Because of drug use, Austin may not be the poorest town in Indiana, but the lives of the people who live there are worse because of drug use. Due to drug abuse, they and their families have a harder time paying for simple things. Studies show that drug use in Austin is linked to poor, high unemployment, limited access to health care, and a lot of people who don’t have a high school diploma.
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