Tough times appear to be getting tougher for a lot of people living in Allentown.

More people are struggling to make ends meet, according to newly released numbers on poverty from the U.S. Census Bureau.

"When I got out of college, I could get a job in a week.  I could go to a warehouse and get hired right on," said Ryan Duda.

Times have changed for the 30-year-old Whitehall Twp., Lehigh Co., man, who had to move back home with his parents and has been out of work for five months.
service.

Duda is not alone. New data by the U.S. Census Bureau only bolsters that hard reality. The report shows the Queen City is anything but regal.

Median family incomes in Allentown shrank from $38,000 in 2007 to $30,000 in 2011.
Nearly one in four families lives below the poverty line, up 10 percentage points from four years ago..

"I'm seeing now people with associate degrees, some years in college, a few with bachelor degrees, that are educated," said Staci Bell, of the 6th Street Shelter in Allentown.

Bell called it the growing face of poverty. Waiting lists for city shelters, she said, get longer by the day.

"Summer indicator tells us what winter will look like, and it's going to be a busy winter for those who can't find work," said Gary Millspaugh, head of the Allentown Rescue Mission.

Millspaugh said he isn't surprised. Beds, he told us, have been full throughout the summer, a far cry from the booming 90s.

"It will take a sustained period of strong growth where we are creating jobs for these kinds of people in the areas like retail, construction, the service industry," said.

Duda said he is hoping to land a job with a local cement company, a job that will leave him on solid financial ground.

Bethlehem fared little better. According to the report, 15% of Christmas city families live below the poverty line, and medium household incomes fell $4,000 to $45,000 per year, still below the national average, which dipped from $54,000 to $50,000.