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Census numbers paint bleak picture in Xenia

Greene County city ranks high in growth of poverty as well as loss of household income

Crystal Algee shops in Family Dollar in Xenia on her way home from work. Her husband recently lost his job while Crystal works three days a week.

Jim Noelker/Staff photographer Crystal Algee shops in Family Dollar in Xenia on her way home from work. Her husband recently lost his job while Crystal works three days a week. "I don't know how I'm going to pay my bills and do Christmas," Algee said. Algee is getting help through Greene County Job and Family Services. Beth Rubin, director of the agency, says the welfare caseload has increased by more than 30 percent in the last two years.

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Area cities see evidence of economic decline

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By Ken McCall, Staff Writer 10:28 PM Sunday, November 22, 2009

To Xenia mayor Phyllis Pennewitt, the numbers are heartbreaking.

Although most cities in the Dayton region have suffered economically, Xenia stands out. It is one of four area cities — along with Trotwood, Dayton and Middletown — that rank in the top 20 in growth of poverty this decade among Ohio cities with greater than 20,000 population, according to new Census data. And it is one of three cities, along with Springfield and Kettering, that also rank in the top 20 in loss of household income.

The data, from the American Community Survey, provide a new look at 83 Ohio cities with at least 20,000 population. The numbers, compiled from surveys in January 2006 through December 2008, include margins of error that makes rankings approximate. But the trends are clear.

Of the 14 Miami Valley cities covered in the data, only Piqua saw a decrease in its poverty rate, and only Lebanon had an increase in median household income.

Xenia showed both a 7.7 percent increase this decade in the city’s poverty rate, which reached almost one in five residents in the three-year estimates.

The data also showed an almost 18 percent drop in median household income. In 1999, the 2000 Census found, the city had a median household income of more than $47,000 after adjustment for inflation. The latest estimates show that has fallen by more than $8,000 to $38,720.

Jim Percival, Xenia city manager, pointed to the closings of the GM plant in Moraine and DHL in Wilmington as possible factors.

“The ZIP code that had the highest percentages of GM workers was in Xenia,” Percival said. “And two, we had a lot of people who worked at DHL. We’ve had some significant challenges here in the last 18 months.”

Pennewitt, who will step down at the end of the year, said she just heard the school system has about 100 students who are homeless.

“We think this isn’t happening in our city,” she said. “We are not shocked when we hear there’s homelessness in Chicago or New York City, but when it’s here in Small Town USA, it is alarming.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2393  or kmccall@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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