Poverty in El Paso Texas

The official way of counting poverty is flawed, as was conceded by its

designer many years ago.

Nevertheless, I was surprised to read the following:

" a quarter or more of all people living in Philadelphia, Buffalo, Milwaukee,

Long Beach, Atlanta, Newark,Miami, and El Paso [were poor]"

source, "The Failures of American Poverty measures", Stephen Pimpare, Journal of Sociology &

Social Welfare, March 2009.

Available at

http://web.me.com/stephenpimpare/webpage/Welcome.html

A quarter or more of the residents of El Paso Texas have incomes at or below

the official poverty level.

I do not see that prices are lower here than Vienna. I haven't noticed that food is cheaper.

Nor is it cheaper to rent a house. I've seen efficiency apartments advertised for 600US

dollars per month--more than I was paying for a similar apartment in Vienna.

Possibly it's cheaper to use the bus if you buy a monthly pass. But buses are much, much

less convenient than the public transport that's available in Vienna. Public transit in

Vienna runs through the night and is very easy to use.

I can only guess that no one lives alone and people live with their families or

have roommates...