An annual report from a group that works with low-income Ohioans said the poverty rate has ticked down a tenth of a point from last year, to 13.3%. But nearly 70% of Ohio’s counties are "resource deserts", with at least one area in those 60 counties where there’s no grocery store and no pharmacy.
The State of Poverty 2025 report from the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies said even though the state's poverty rate has ticked down slightly, it's the15th highest in the US.
Each year the State of Poverty report has examined not just the poverty rate, but also the factors that might lead to it. This year's report noted 67 counties have at least one food desert, where access to healthy, affordable food is limited. The report said 67 counties also have at least one pharmacy desert. And 60 counties have at least one food desert and one pharmacy desert, which comprises 68% of the state.
The report said there’s been a 16% drop in pharmacies across the state over the last decade. 91% of food deserts are in areas where the poverty rate is at the state average, and 41% are in areas where the poverty rate is double the state average.
Lack of access to healthy food and needed medication has cumulative effects, the report said. Obesity, poor nutrition, complications from skipping prescriptions and stress can add up. The authors noted there’s a 12-year gap in the average lifespan in suburban wealthy Delaware County, at 81.3 years, and rural poor Vinton County, at 69.9 years. Delaware County has the lowest poverty rate in the state and the highest life expectancy; Vinton County has one of the highest poverty rates and the lowest life expectancy.
OACAA executive director Phil Cole said because large chains get discounts on products and smaller businesses can't, that's had a detrimental effect on independent grocers and pharmacies in both rural and urban areas.
"Walmart, Kroger, Safeway, they pushed the little guys out of business," Cole said in an interview for "The State of Ohio". "That created these food deserts and also created some unemployment too, because those places were gone."
Several counties also have maternal and/or behavioral health care deserts, and also a lack of access to transportation or legal assistance. One Ohio county has only two lawyers.
Cole said lifestyle choices used to be a big reason why people ended up in poverty, but that’s not as true anymore.
“Most people in poverty were born there. You can't pick where you're born or who your parents are," Cole said. "Public policy has made things more difficult. So if you end up in a bad situation, it's harder to get out, if it was your fault or not.”
But Cole said fixing that would take lawmakers changing rules to bring back independent grocery stores and pharmacies, including legislation regulating reimbursement rates offered by pharmacy benefit managers. And he said they would need to put big money into education, public transit and other things.
“If they would have done it before when they first knew what the problem was, they'd have solved it by now," Cole said. The problem, the thing, the question is, are you going to solve the problem or are you just going to let it fester?”
Even though it dropped slightly, Ohio’s poverty rate is still higher than the national average, and has been since 2007.
