A recent Census Bureau poverty survey has named Athens the poorest city out of the nationwide city surveys, with 52.3 percent of the city's population living below the federal poverty line.
However, these numbers may not be accurate, said some city officials.
These numbers from the survey tell us there's a skewing because of students. Essentially
if you look at enrollment there are about 20 000 students in a city of about 22
000. I would guesstimate that there are around 6
000 full-time Athens residents
Athens Mayor Paul Wiehl said.
Although college students are historically assumed to be practically broke, community activists hesitate to define the typical college student's situation as poverty.
Part of the issue is the definition of poverty being based on income level
said Jung Kim, director of Community Data Services of Community Research Partners. A place like Athens affects surveys like these because of all the students living below the [federal] poverty line.
Kim said that different methods of data collection could fix the number inflation problem.
It is possible to avoid this issue by using different types of public assistance data as an alternative to surveys like these
Kim said.
Despite the statistical inflation from the large student population in Athens, the county does have a poverty problem.
There is certainly a high poverty rate in Athens County
said Nick Claussen of the Athens County Department of Jobs and Family Services. Apart from the issue of the student population
there are
for instance
