JACKSONVILLE, Florida. – New census data shows families in Duval County have seen their incomes rise over the past decade, but despite the improvement, there are still economic disparities.

The data comes from the American Community Survey, which is sent annually to a sample of households across the country. The latest report combines data from 2016 to 2020.

While data shows improvements in the poverty rate in Duval County over the past decade, a local advocate says the coronavirus may have set us back when it comes to the financial situation of some families.

As the United States recovered from the Great Recession, data shows that the percentage of people living below the poverty line in Duval County from 2011 to 2015 was 17.3%. This fell about 3 points over the next five years to 14.5%.

But the effects varied by race. While the poverty rate fell 1.2% for non-Hispanic whites, it fell 6.6% for blacks and 4.4% for Hispanics.

A d

But even with the improvements, the data shows the poverty rate was higher for minorities — Duval County’s black population rate was 22.1% from 2016 to 2020. That’s more than double that of the white population at 10.1%.

“I think that still says we still have a long way to go,” said Irvin Cohen, executive director of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, or LISC, in Jacksonville.

LISC helps with things like affordable housing and community development – usually in underserved communities. Cohen says the historical lack of adequate high-level education and the practice of redlining explain the economic disparities faced by minorities.

“You don’t wake up one morning and forget the whole story that happened,” Cohen said.

Cohen says he wouldn’t be surprised if the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out minority economic gains over the past decade.

“Two steps forward and three steps back,” he said.

A d

He says people are currently struggling with housing costs and inflation in general and this can have a big impact on those at the bottom of the economic ladder.

“It’s the difference between being in a house and being on the street. It’s the difference between having access to a job and not having access to a job,” he said.

But he says there are things we can do to address the problem of economic disparity: recognize the problem and bring diverse voices to the table.

Although this survey data includes 2020, much of the survey data is from the four years before the pandemic, so it may not fully reflect the impact of COVID-19 on families. Additionally, the Census Bureau also had to take into account that fewer people responded in 2020, due to the pandemic.