Numbers a city does not want to see

But, the numbers haven’t changed in a while. 

Madison, Ark., is in St. Francis County. Madison’s biggest population was 1,263, in 1990. The town’s estimated 2019 population was 686. Thirty years and almost half the population gone.

About 40 percent of the town’s families and 42 percent of the overall population overall lives below the federal poverty line. Fifty-six percent of children under 18 and 50 percent of those age 65 and older are below the poverty line.

Madison’s racial demographics show a population that is 89 percent black and 10 percent white.

St. Francis County population has been going down as well. The county in 1950 was 36,841. The 2019 population was estimated at 29,994. Racially, the county is 49 percent black and 48 percent white. Twenty-three percent of families and 27.5 percent of the overall population lives below the poverty line.