PRESS RELEASE from the
ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE

CONTACT: Micky Horstman (312) 607-4977

44% of Chicago adults living in poverty have some college experience

Eradicating poverty in Chicago is not as simple as improving educational attainment. Many impoverished Chicagoans have advanced education.

CHICAGO (Sept. 28, 2023) – While education can go a long way in avoiding poverty, more than 2 of 5 impoverished Chicago adults have at least a partial college education and 1 in 5 hold a bachelor’s degree, new research finds.

According to an Illinois Policy Institute Center for Poverty Solutions analysis, 44% of Chicagoans living in poverty, aged 25 or older, have some college experience. Levels of education are nearly equally distributed among these 266,000 impoverished Chicagoans, with 20% earning a bachelor’s degree, 24% attaining some level of college attendance, 31% graduating high school and 25% without a high school diploma.

Chicago also sees less poverty reduction from residents advancing in education than other major U.S. cities. Compared to the national average, Chicago has a higher percentage of individuals living in poverty who have completed high school, some college or earned a bachelor’s degree.

“Seeing so many Chicagoans in poverty who went to college is concerning. While addressing poverty among the college educated is not often on the agenda for public officials concerned about poverty, the data shows this is a massive issue that must be addressed,” said Bryce Hill, director of fiscal and economic research at the Illinois Policy Institute. 

While advanced education is a key component for individuals living above the poverty line, experts note simply increasing educational attainment isn’t an effective solution for eradicating poverty. Among Chicago’s total population, only 6.5% of Chicagoans with a bachelor’s degree are living in poverty.

“Education is shown to improve lifetime earnings and increase the likelihood of employment, but highly educated individuals still make up a substantial share of the impoverished community,” Hill said. “For a city that prides itself on the quality of its workforce compared to other cities, this is unacceptable. Our highly educated but impoverished communities deserve our help and further investigation so they can find more meaningful work and a more dignified life.”

To read the Center for Poverty Solutions report, “How to better assess poverty in Chicago, U.S.,” visit illin.is/poverty.

For interviews or interviews, contact media@illinoispolicy.org or (312) 607-4977.