South Dakota Low Income Families and Migration

Generally, a high proportion of out-migrants are believed to be persons who leave because of limited economic opportunities in the State for the skilled, the educated, underemployed or the employed members of the labor force. Often, underemployed and the unemployed are members of disadvantaged families; that is, families characterized by income levels not adequate to provide minimum living standards. Consequently, it is believed that areas of a rural state with extensive concentrations of poverty level families may be areas of low employment opportunities, and consequently areas of high out-migration. For this study, poverty level families are those households with incomes below poverty level, as defined by the United States Bureau of the Census. Primarily, income is the major determinant of poverty status; however, the specified income minimums vary according to rural-urban residency, marital status, and number of dependents. Table 1 shows typical poverty levels by household and residence. Poverty level families are of ten referred to as disadvantaged families, and counties or households with high levels of poverty are referred to as areas or units of disadvantagement