Residents of Connersville are familiar with the city's struggles economically.
A national financial website is also now familiar with those struggles, as a recent analysis rates the city as the poorest in Indiana.
The national website 24/7 Wall St. — which provides analysis and commentary for equity investors throughout the nation and world — recently released a report titled "Poorest Town in Every State," which analyzed several factors of cities and towns, nationwide, with populations of 25,000 or less, to come up with its list of the poorest towns.
The website analyzed data regarding median household incomes, poverty rates, college attainment, and other social and economic factors obtained from the U. S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey for the period between 2010 and 2014.
When it came to Indiana, after all the number-crunching, 24/7 Wall St. named Connersville as the poorest town in Indiana, based on factors such as its median household income of $31,299 — far below the state's median household income of $49,446 — along with Connersville's poverty rate of 23.4 percent.
"The vast majority of the poorest towns in the country have a disproportionately high share of eligible workers who are jobless," their analysis stated. "In 40 states, the unemployment rate in the poorest town is greater than statewide jobless rate.
"A high share of households that are not currently earning a salary likely drives down the median income for an area," the analysis continued. "A weaker economy in general, where more people are unemployed, can also drive down salaries in a number of ways — even for those residents with jobs."
Educational attainment was another area which 24/7 Wall St. touched on regarding the nation's poorest towns.
"Socioeconomic indicators such as low educational attainment rates can also help explain the low incomes in many of these towns," their report stated. "One important measure is the college attainment rate. A more educated population is more likely to be employed and to have access to higher-paid jobs. The poorest towns in only three states have a college attainment rate that exceeds the national rate of 30.1 percent."