Census data shows poverty rate decline in San Antonio

Charles Pate, 72, receives assistance from volunteer Theresa Ellard in picking up food at Windcrest United Methodist Church on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016. Once a month, the church serves as a pickup location for people in need of food. Through funding from the Texas Diaper Bank, the church provides a location and manpower for the San Antonio Food Bank to drop off nutritional foods to be distributed to about 100 households. Nearly 30 volunteers gathered to help distribute the food to recipients like Pate. The Vietnam veteran said he has come out to the Windcrest church to get food for the past three to four years. The supply usually lasts about two weeks, Pate said. less Charles Pate, 72, receives assistance from volunteer Theresa Ellard in picking up food at Windcrest United Methodist Church on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016. Once a month, the church serves as a pickup location for ... more Photo: Kin Man Hui /San Antonio Express-News Photo: Kin Man Hui /San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Census data shows poverty rate decline in San Antonio 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

The San Antonio-New Braunfels area saw a significant drop in its poverty rate last year, new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau today shows.

The share of residents living below the poverty line within that area fell 2.1 percentage points between 2014 and 2015. That’s the biggest change seen across the country’s 25 most-populated metropolitan areas.

In 2014, 16.7 percent of residents in the San Antonio-New Braunfels metropolitan area were living below the poverty line. Last year, that declined to 14.6 percent, according to the 2015 American Community Survey’s one-year estimates, which were just released.

Poverty rates also declined in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and Houston area, but those shifts were not as significant.

The San Antonio-New Braunfels area also recorded a boost in its median household income last year — a 4.4 percent increase — but it still lags behind typical income levels seen in the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth areas.

The median household income in the San Antonio-New Braunfels area in 2015 was $55,083, census data revealed.

That’s around $6,000 less than the median household incomes seen in the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth areas.

For more on this story, go to Express-News.com or read Friday’s print edition.

pohare@express-news.net