Poverty On The Rise In Mass.

New figures show the poverty rate is on the rise in Massachusetts.  The U.S. Census Bureau says in 2009, the poverty rate rose to 10.3 percent, up from 10.1 percent the year before.

That increase marks about 22,000 additional people living in poverty.

But the increase does not indicate any statistically significant change in the state's poverty rate from 2008 to 2009, according to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.

The new data from census bureau's annual American Community Survey reveals that in 2009, 600,000 to 650,000 people in Massachusetts lived below the federal poverty threshold. The federal poverty threshold in 2009 was $21,756 for a family of two adults and two children.

By contrast, the U.S. as a whole experienced a significant increase in the number of people living below the poverty rate, from 13.3 percent in 2008 to 14.3 percent in 2009.