No, Bloomington is not the poorest city in Indiana.
A recent article on a stock trading information website that compared poverty rates and income data listed Bloomington as the poorest city in Indiana and “one of the poorest in the country.”
However, economic experts said the comparisons are too simplistic, with one calling it downright “nonsense.”
What's wrong with InsiderMonkey's analysis?
The article, from InsiderMonkey, used income and poverty data from the U.S. Census Bureau to rank states and cities. However, the Census Bureau itself warns that the data are skewed, sometimes significantly, for towns with large populations of college students.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that a college student who takes a full load of classes and either doesn’t work at all or works only part time earns much less than an adult who works a full-time job.
“The demographic and economic characteristics of these students may noticeably shape the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the local communities where these colleges and universities are located,” the Census Bureau said.