PORTLAND — The share of Oregonians living below the federal poverty line remained near a historic low last year, according to newly released census data. And the share of Oregonians of color in poverty continues to decline.

Poverty rates are much higher in some parts of Portland, though. And the gap between white Oregonians and other racial and ethnic groups is much larger in Portland too.

People living below the poverty line are eligible for federal health and financial assistance. The poverty line is very low — a single person qualified with income below $13,590 last year. The threshold was $27,750 for a family of four. And the line, set nationwide, doesn’t account for regional variations in cost of living.

Oregon’s poverty rate was 12.1% last year, slightly lower than in 2021 and a bit below the national rate.

Past recessions sent the poverty rate soaring, but that didn’t happen during the pandemic recession, thanks in large part to federal stimulus payments and other temporary relief programs. The economic rebound has been unusually strong too.

Across Oregon, 11.2% of white households had incomes below the federal poverty line last year. That compares to 14.3% of other racial and ethnic groups. The gap between those two rates is the smallest in at least two decades.

Recovery from the pandemic has been strong, fast and inclusive, according to state economist Josh Lehner in an analysis of the new census numbers.

“Many of the longstanding disparities when it comes to employment and income by race and ethnicity, sex, educational attainment, even broad geographic location (urban-rural) did not widen, and are actually a bit smaller today than they were prior to the pandemic,” he wrote in the analysis.

That’s good news, but Lehner noted poverty rates vary considerably across the state and those in certain places, notably east Portland and Douglas, Polk and Lincoln counties, are much higher. Child poverty was nearly 25% in east Portland last year — poverty rates among children rose sharply across the country last year following the expiration of a federal tax credit.

Proper Portland, the city’s economic development agency, did its own analysis of poverty rates this month and found the poverty gap remains somewhat larger in Oregon’s largest city than in the state as a whole.

Prosper Portland’s initial analysis used 2021 numbers, but updated figures show similar results — the city’s poverty rate was roughly equal to the statewide rate last year.

However, the gap between the share of white Portlanders in poverty and the poverty rate among other racial and ethnic groups was much higher (6.3 percentage points) than the statewide gap (3.1 points).

The gap between white Portlanders and the city’s other residents is smaller than in other cities, Proper Portland noted. Boston, Minneapolis and Atlanta all have poverty gaps between white residents and those in other groups of at least 9 percentage points (18.4 points in Atlanta).

Poverty has many causes — family struggles, lack of educational opportunities, industrial disruptions and health problems. Racism can play a role too, from decades of policies that stifled generational wealth to present-day discrimination.

Prosper Portland said that addressing the city’s income disparities will require improving job opportunities and workforce training — especially for low-income Portlanders.

“Reducing poverty requires intentional efforts and networked activities, including access to high-quality employment opportunities and related skills development, connections to employers and growing businesses,” according to Prosper Portland.