By James Hilepo SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Recent data released by the United States Census Bureau has placed Syracuse in the top ten poorest places in the country. The central New York city is tied for ninth on the list with Dearborn, Michigan and Bloomington, Indiana, with a poverty rate of 32.4 percent.
This is a slight increase from the 2016 rate of of 32.1 percent. The data released covered cities with populations exceeding 65,000 people.
This is not the first unenviable label stuck on the city in recent years, as 24/7 Wall Street named it in the top ten cities with the most abandoned homes in 2014. The New York Post also named the city the worst place in the U.S. for finding love, in terms of reported dating satisfaction, in February.
As the city looks to find solutions, Donald Dutkowsky, a professor of economics at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, says that while looking to help everyone is important, focusing on the city’s children is particularly critical.
“Certainly, there’s arguments to try to make the city schools better and to increase the opportunities for children in poverty to see if they can, at least, achieve better,” Dutkowsky explained.
Dutkowsky also considers that the possibility of adjusting minimum wage into a “living wage” for those willing to work could be a possible path forward for the current generation.
The signs of poverty in the city appear to be evident to those who live in it. Dalton Sheridan, a Syracuse resident who says wanting to be a good example for his little sister motivated him to lift himself out of poverty, can still see the effects.
“I understand it because I can walk outside my house and see about six homeless people sleeping on the street.”
Now living a bit more comfortably than he used to, Sheridan has a clear message for his sister as she gets older.
“There’s so much more. Graduate, stay in school, do the best that you can.”
Major cities in the U.S. Census Bureau’s top 10 included Detroit, Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio which reported poverty rates of 34.5 percent and 33.1 percent respectively. Flint, Michigan was named the poorest place to live in the country, with a rate of 38.9 percent.
