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2022 Community Report (PDF)

 

Data and Sources

  • 1 in 4 central Iowans are "Housing Burdened," spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing.
    - Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates, 2016-2020

  • For Black households, this rate goes up to 53%.
    - Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates, 2016-2020

  • Iowa has 30% fewer childcare providers for young children than it did just five years ago.
    - Source: Iowa Child Care Resource & Referral

  • Childcare is typically the #1 expense of a central Iowa family's budget, costing more than a mortgage or college tuition.
     - Source: Economic Policy Institute

  • The percent of central Iowa’s 3rd graders reading proficiently
    is at a 15-year low – 53%. This is a drop of 23% in the past two
    years. For some students whose households face more
    significant systemic barriers, more than 80% of the 3rd graders
    are not reading at grade level.
     - Source: Iowa Department of Education

  • 60% of children in some central Iowa neighborhoods live in extreme poverty.
     - Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates, 2016-2020

  • Extreme poverty is recognized as 100% of the Federal Poverty Level and represents an annual earning of $27,750 for a family of four or $13,590 for a single individual.
    - Federal Register by the US Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2)

  • Students reading proficiently at the end of 3rd grade are four times more likely to finish high school.
     - Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation

  • In central Iowa, 4.5% of those who are employed are living in extreme poverty. In certain areas of our community, over 20% of
    individuals with jobs are living in extreme poverty.
     - Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates, 2016-2020

  • 50% of U.S. adults say they put off or skipped some sort of healthcare in the past year because of the cost.
     - Source: Kaiser Family Foundation

  • 24% of Iowa’s 11th graders said they had seriously contemplated suicide in the last 12 months, and half of those said they had a plan for how they were going to carry it out.
     - Source: Iowa Youth Survey