The survey released today shows an estimated 29.5 percent of Cleveland's population lived in poverty in 2007, ranked only behind Detroit, which had an estimated 33.8 percent poverty level.
Cleveland's poverty level rose 2.5 percent from 2006, when it was ranked the fourth most impoverished city.
Two of the three years before that, Cleveland had the highest poverty ranking in the nation.
Cincinnati is the 10th most impoverished big city in 2007, with an estimated 23.5 percent of its population in poverty.
Two smaller Ohio cities, Youngstown and Dayton, were estimated to have poverty rates higher than Cleveland's but less that Detroit's.
