Some new census figures indicate the median income of Missourians dropped last year by about $2,600. Preliminary figures show the Missouri household median income last year was $46,184, down from $48,769 in 2009. Missouri was more than $250 a month less than the national average.
The census bureau says Missouri’s poverty rate was 14.8 percent — about one in every seven Missourians living below the federal poverty level — about 885,000 people. Federal standards say a family of four living on less than $22,113 a year is below the poverty line.