What's Indiana's poorest city? (Hint: It's not Bloomington.)

No, Bloomington is not the poorest city in Indiana.

A recent article on a stock trading information website that compared poverty rates and income data listed Bloomington as the poorest city in Indiana and “one of the poorest in the country.”

However, economic experts said the comparisons are too simplistic, with one calling it downright “nonsense.”

What's wrong with InsiderMonkey's analysis?

The article, from InsiderMonkey, used income and poverty data from the U.S. Census Bureau to rank states and cities. However, the Census Bureau itself warns that the data are skewed, sometimes significantly, for towns with large populations of college students.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that a college student who takes a full load of classes and either doesn’t work at all or works only part time earns much less than an adult who works a full-time job.

Court case: Billboard company said Monroe County's laws violated First Amendment. A judge agreed.

“The demographic and economic characteristics of these students may noticeably shape the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the local communities where these colleges and universities are located,” the Census Bureau said.

The impact is notable in communities of all sizes, the agency said, but especially in smaller cities. Like, you know, Bloomington.

Economic experts have seen this before

Carol Rogers, co-director and chief information officer of the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, said she was “disheartened” to read the InsiderMonkey piece, which was shared widely on Reddit, a Bloomington news website and an Indianapolis TV station.

“I honestly thought after decades of having to refute such nonsense that I wouldn’t ever see such things again,” Rogers said via email.

The Census Bureau even has spreadsheets that list the 226 U.S. cities and 210 U.S. counties with populations of at least 10,000 where the presence of college students generates the greatest impact on poverty rates. The lists include both Bloomington and Monroe County.

The Census Bureau adjusts the poverty rates in those communities for the presence of the students.

What is the impact of students on Bloomington's poverty rate?

The Bureau lists Bloomington’s adjusted poverty rate as 16.7 percentage points — or about 44% — lower than the unadjusted rate. Among the 226 cities, only 28 are seeing a higher impact from students on poverty rates than Bloomington. Among those are Clemson City, South Carolina (Clemson University); East Lansing, Mich. (Michigan State University); and West Lafayette.

Among the 210 counties, only 13 saw a higher impact on poverty rates than Monroe County.

While the adjustment calculations are a bit dated, Phil Powell, the IBRC’s academic director and the clinical associate professor of business economics and public policy, said they are “robust enough to apply to current numbers."

“In theory, the correction factor is stable from year to year because the relative economic position of students does not radically change from year to year,” he said via email.

The Census Bureau’s poverty thresholds vary by family size and age but do not vary geographically. The thresholds are updated annually for inflation.

“Although the thresholds in some sense reflect a family’s needs, they are intended for use as a statistical yardstick, not as a complete description of what people and families need to live,” the Bureau said on its website.

For 2022, the poverty threshold for a family of three with one child under 18 is an annual pre-tax income of $23,556. You can find more information at tinyurl.com/2863a5nc.

So, what is Indiana’s poorest city?

Using the adjusted data, Bloomington, at 15.6%, is nowhere near the poorest city in the state. In fact, it’s not even among the poorest 20 Indiana cities.

The three Indiana cities with the highest share of people living in poverty are Gary (32%), Marion (28.5%) and East Chicago (27.8%). The city with the lowest share of people living in poverty is Fishers, at 2.8%.

Cities that have a higher share of people in poverty than Bloomington include Muncie, Anderson, Hammond, South Bend, Evansville, Indianapolis and Bedford.

Bloomington's poverty rate is still higher than state average

While a closer look at the Census data show that Bloomington is not the poorest city in Indiana — by far — Powell, the economics professor, warned the community against disregarding economic challenges faced by many local residents.

“I feel too many folks wave off the measurement bias and use it as an excuse to minimize the presence of poverty challenges in Greater Bloomington,” he said.

Bloomington’s poverty rate, even adjusted, remains more than three percentage points above the state average of 12.2%. And the city’s household income, $41,995 last year, was nearly $20,000 below the state average, even though the Bloomington area is among the most expensive in the state for housing.

Last year: Wage growth in Bloomington lags, poverty 'worrisomely high'

Bloomington's median household income also was lower than that in Evansville, South Bend and Bedford — though higher than in Gary, Muncie, Terre Haute and West Lafayette.

“The divide between the ‘haves’ around campus communities and the ‘have nots’ in the rural periphery deserves notice,” Powell said. “Also, discussion on poverty splits itself between the homelessness challenge in Bloomington city and the poverty traps in rural communities.”

Powell had said last year that Bloomington’s poverty rate is “worrisomely high” and that the recent pace of wage growth had not kept up with the state average and inflation.

Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: No, Bloomington is not the poorest city in Indiana