Household Income--How It Relates to Substandard Housing in Rural and Farmers Home Administration Areas, by State and Race, 1970

Analysis of income levels of occupants of housing served by the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) reveals that substandard housing is mainly occupied by the poor. Householders with less than $4,000 income in 1970 made up 28.6 percent of the FmHA area households, but occupied 61.6 percent of the housing without complete plumbing. Inadequate housing, however, is not entirely associated with low income. Householders with incomes of $10,000 or more occupied 6.9 percent of FmHA area housing without complete plumbing. White occupants are usually more adequately housed than minority races, regardless of income. For example, only 24 percent of rural white households with incomes below $4,000 occupied housing lacking complete plumbing. Comparable figures for black households were 73 percent and for other races, 52 percent. Of households with incomes above $8,000, 4 percent of the white, 31 percent of the black, and 11 percent of other races lived in houses without complete plumbing. Geographically, inadequate housing is located mainly in Southeastern States and other States with large minority populations.