Poverty in the Suburbs

I read an interesting article about suburban poverty the other day.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070423/press.

In Washington County, 2003 census figures say we had 8.7% of persons living below the poverty line, which is over 42,000 people. The median household income was around $54,000. I don't know if there is a trend here one way or the other.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/41/41067.html

Keep in mind that the "poverty line" is very low. As an example, the poverty threshold is $10,160 for a person under 65 years of age with no related children under 18 years of age. For a three-person household, it's between $14,000-15,000.

What always strikes me about the suburbs is how shielded many of us are from "how the other half lives."