Arizona's Poverty casts longer shadow

Gas prices hover near $3. Medical costs are on the rise, and child care can be expensive. And there's always an emergency home repair that just wasn't in the budget.

It's hard to climb back to a middle-class lifestyle after a tumble into joblessness and poverty, as many Arizonans are finding.

In September, the U.S. Census Bureau said Arizona had the nation's second-worst poverty rate in 2009, behind Mississippi. The percentage of impoverished Arizonans was said to have increased to 21 percent in 2009 from 18 percent in 2008.

Complete Story: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/01/24/20110124arizona-middle-class-decline-economy-poverty.html