poverty rate

CHAMPAIGN – Poverty rates for many counties in East Central Illinois were up in 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Champaign County's overall poverty rate, which is inflated by the presence of University of Illinois students, was 18.7 percent in 2008. A year earlier, the overall poverty rate was 18.2 percent. In 2000, the county's rate was 11.7 percent.

An estimated 32,595 Champaign County residents lived at or below the poverty level last year. No other area county had close to that number. McLean County, which also has a state university, reported 17,484 at or below the poverty level. McLean County's poverty rate, however, was 11.4 percent.