U.S. Census Bureau figures show nearly half the children in the Rochester City School District live in poverty.
The newly released study shows that Rochester is the second most poverty stricken district in the United States, with only the city of Detroit ranking worse. Buffalo comes in third, just slightly better off than Rochester.
The Small area income and Poverty Estimates Program says the current youth poverty rate is about 46 percent and more than 15,000 children in the Rochester City School District live in poverty. Buffalo’s rate is 45.5 percent, and Detroit’s is about 52 percent.
The collective poverty rate for all the nation’s largest school district’s is 21.5 percent, or less than half Rochester’s child poverty rate.