Sept 18th, 2010: The poverty rate for African Americans reached 25.8 percent in 2009.

Poverty has always been a challenge for the Black community. Although poverty conditions for Black America have improved, the rates are still staggering when compared to that of all Americans.  41% of single mother Black families are living in poverty compared to only 7 percent of married-couple Black families.
POVERTY RATES .
PERCENTAGE IN POVERTYBlacks   all races
All families      
With related children under 18 years
Married-couple families     
With related children under 18 years
Families with female householder,
    no husband present
With related children under 18 years
All people (individuals)
People in families
Unrelated individuals,
   15 years and over
9.7%
15.0%
4.6%
6.5%

28.0%
36.3%
13.2%
10.7%

24.2%

Many working class Black Americans struggle to obtain affordable housing.  More than half of all African Americans rent and 53% of those spend more than 30% of their income for their rent. 30% is the recommended threshold that a family should pay for housing costs. Having to use so much of their income for housing makes it much more difficult for African Americans to make ends meet.
HOUSING TENUREBlack (all races)
Owner-occupied housing units 
Renter-occupied housing units 

UNITS IN STRUCTURE
1-unit, detached or attached    
2 to 4 units      
5 or more units 
Mobile home, boat, RV, van, etc.

SELECTED MONTHLY OWNER COSTS AS A PERCENTAGE OF HOUSEHOLD INCOME IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS
Less than 30 percent
30 percent or more  

OWNER CHARACTERISTICS
Median value (dollars)  

GROSS RENT AS A PERCENTAGE OF HOUSEHOLD INCOME IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS
Less than 30 percent
30 percent or more  

GROSS RENT
Median gross rent (dollars)     
20% of African Americans do not own an automobile while 91% of all Americans do.
VEHICLES AVAILABLE

Black (all races)
None 19.7%  8.8%
1 or more  80.3%  91.2%
Of the 113,101,329 households in America 13,833,884 are Black households. As you can see by the chart, Blacks have 21% fewer married couples and more than twice as many single parent families households than the average American household. Even then Black households are slightly larger than the average.
Average Black household size 2.66.  (all races) 2.62
Average Black family size 3.43. (all races) 3.22
Black Household Table (2008)
*All statistics used here are from the US Census Bureau 2008 American Community Survey, unless otherwise noted
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*All statistics used here are from the US Census Bureau 2008 American Community Survey, unless otherwise noted
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US Census Bureau 2008 American Community Survey

Black Poverty & Housing

POVERTY

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Black Poverty & Housing
POVERTY
20.7%
27.5%
6.7%
8.1%

34.3%
41.0%
24.0%
22.0%

32.6%

66.6%
33.4%


69.2%
08.0%
16.6%
06.2%



62.3%
37.7%


$197,600



50.2%
49.8%


$824

45.4%
54.6%


56.3%
13.3%
26.5%
04.0%



51.6%
48.4%


$146,500



43.1%
56.9%


$776

HOUSHOLD TYPE
Family households
With own children under 18 years
Married-couple family

Female householder, no husband present
With own children under 18 years

Male householder
Living alone

Female householder
Living alone
ALL RACES
66.3%

30.7%
49.2%


12.5%

7.4%

15.6%
12.3%

18.0%
15.5%
BLACK
63.2%

33.8%
28.2%


29.0%

17.8%

16.4%
13.8%

20.4%
18.5%