Ohio. Gov. Ted Strickland's Home County: Scioto Has Highest Poverty Rate In State

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The Census Bureau is out with reams of new poverty data, and it shows that Scioto County in Appalachian Ohio -- the home of Gov. Ted Strickland -- has the state's highest percentage of poor residents, some 28.3%. Neighboring Pike County has 21.4% of its residents in poverty, followed by Adams County at 20.5%. All three counties are in Ohio's 2nd Congressional District, which is now represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt. The poverty rate for Scioto gets even bleaker for those under age 18 -- some 36.3% are poor. Overall, the Census reports that 13% of all Ohioans live in poverty.

Other data shows that 36,108 kids in the Cleveland schools live in poverty. That is nearly as many as Cincinnati, 15,746, and Columbus, 21,954, have when their city school systems are lumped together.

The hill country of Appalachian Ohio has long been wracked by chronic hard times. This latest batch of data from Washington clearly indicates that any national economic growth which took place during this decade seems to have bypassed that region.