The United States is a large country with an estimated population of over 334,475,000. The various regions of the country are unique, with some places having a greater concentration of wealth than others. For example, the Mid-Atlantic region features 43 of the 100 counties with the highest income. Some states are not so fortunate. This brief look at the wealth of states will reveal the poorest state in the United States.
Discover the areas with the highest poverty rate in the country and learn what factors account for their lack of income.
The 10 Poorest States in the United States
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Many methods exist for defining the poorest state in the United States. To some, the poorest state could be the one that contributes the least to the national gross domestic product (GDP). However, a better way to understand the poorest state is by looking at the poverty levels in a given area.
The federal poverty threshold is based upon a calculation of the number of people in a household and the amount of money that they earn. For example, recent guidelines say that a single-person household earning less than $14,580 per year is below the poverty line. As the household size increases, so does the amount required to meet the poverty guideline. If a family of four lives together with two parents and two children, and they earn less than $30,000 per year, then they’re below the poverty line.
Using the poverty rate as a measure for the poorest state humanizes the issue and opens the door for discussions about the region-specific causes of poverty. For this list, only the official 50 states are going to be considered. Also, the data for this table was sourced from the United States Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey.
Other resources have placed the states in different orders, but they are all somewhat similar in terms of their top ten and placements.
10. Tennessee
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Tennessee is the tenth-poorest state in the United States. Roughly 14.62% of people in the state live below the poverty threshold according to federal guidelines. Based on the population of the state, that means 965,000 people in the state have a household income below the poverty threshold.
9. South Carolina
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South Carolina has a population of 5,118,425 people according to the last census. Since 14.68% of people in the state earn under the federal guidelines on poverty, that means over 700,000 people in the state are impoverished.
8. Oklahoma
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The state of Oklahoma has the eighth-highest percentage of people living in poverty. That translates to about 585,000 people in the state falling below the federal poverty level. Many reasons exist for the state’s poverty including low-wage work, low levels of educational attainment, and high levels of incarceration.
7. Alabama
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Alabama’s poverty rate is 15.98%. With 4.7 million people living in the state, over 762,000 people in the state quality as falling below the poverty level. Inequitable taxes, poor upward mobility, and low levels of education perpetuate negative conditions.
6. Arkansas
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Arkansas is another one of the poorest states in the United States based on the percentage of people living below the poverty line. That means over 470,000 people in the state fall under the federal guidelines for poverty. The lack of high-paying industries is certainly a major factor in why Arkansas is a poor state.
5. Kentucky
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Kentucky has the fifth-highest poverty rate in the United States. This state has 16.61% of its people living below the poverty line. Based on the state’s population, that means over 717,000 people in the state can be considered impoverished.
4. West Virginia
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West Virginia has a high percentage of people living in poverty. However, the state has a relatively small population. Even though 17.10% of the residents in the state live below the federal guidelines for poverty, that still comes out to 300,152 people.
3. New Mexico
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New Mexico is another one of the poorest states in the United States. Almost one-fifth of all people in the state live in poverty. Still, only 381,000 people fall below the federal guidelines due to the small overall population.
2. Louisiana
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Louisiana is a state with a fairly high population of 4.5 million people. About 845,000 of them live in poverty, and that equals roughly 18.65 percent of the population. Low wages, high unemployment, taxes, and other factors continue to plague the state.
1. Mississippi
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Mississippi is the poorest state in the United States. Roughly 19.58% of people in the state are living below the poverty line. That means about 564,000 people in the state earn below the federal guidelines for poverty. Like other poor states, a lack of good jobs, poor education, and other factors keep people in poverty.
While Mississippi has the highest poverty rate of any state in the U.S., two territories are also high on the list of impoverished areas. Puerto Rico has the highest poverty rate in any state or territory. Roughly 43.41% of people in the region live in poverty, and that accounts for 1.4 million people. Furthermore, Washington D.C. has a poverty rate of 15.45%, higher than the last three states on the list.
All in all, millions of people across the country live in poverty. An average of 13% of people in the country live below the poverty line, which equals 42 million people. The reasons that they live in poverty are many. Typically, poverty comes down to a lack of education, high unemployment and inflation, unaffordable homes, and a lack of good jobs in an area.
Until these problems are ameliorated, poverty will continue to exist in the United States.
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