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01/30/2009: "The poorest village in the US - full of Hasidic Jews"

This village has always had the distinction of being a cultural and religious enclave, but now it can add another:

Kiryas Joel is the poorest place in the country.

According to the latest round of U.S. Census figures, released late last year, the village has the highest poverty rate in the nation, and the largest percentage of residents who receive food stamps. Only one other place in the 50 states has a lower median income. The median household income in Kiryas Joel is $15,848; in Carbondale, Ill., it's $15,799.
More than two-thirds of Kiryas Joel residents live below the federal poverty line and more than 40 percent receive food stamps, according to the American Community Survey, a U.S. Census Bureau study of every place in the country with 20,000 residents or more.

The median age in the village is 14.4, meaning half of its more than 21,000 residents is 14 or younger.

[ Sounds like they're choosing to be poor and be on the dole. ]

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090130/NEWS/901300361