A new report shows that 20 percent of Jewish households in the New York metropolitan area are poor, a figure only marginally lower than the rate in the general population.
The report released June 6 by UJA-Federation of New York found more than 560,000 people living in 200,000 poor or near-poor Jewish households, a figure that represents a doubling of the number of people living in poor Jewish households since 1991, despite an increase in the Jewish population of only 14 percent. The report also found nearly half of children in Jewish households live in poor or near-poor conditions.
Among all residents of the New York area, some 25 percent live in poor households, the report said.
The report found that the largest group of poor Jewish households in New York is Russian-speaking seniors, followed by Hassids and non–Russian-speaking seniors.
The report defines poor households as those earning less than 150 percent of the 2010 federal poverty guideline. — jta