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Where Are the Poor in America? States Ranked by Poverty
Visual Capitalist ^ | 09/29/25 | Pallavi Rao

Posted on 09/29/2025 8:29:11 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

America loves to tally its billionaires and track the S&P’s every tick, but the millions struggling to cover rent or stock the fridge rarely make the headline scroll.

Poverty is the country’s most persistent invisibility cloak, present in every zip code, yet ignored in a culture that equates success with worth.

In this chart Visual Capitalist's Pallavi Rao breaks down where the poor in America actually live, ranked by each state.

Data for this visualization is sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau.

It averages three years of Current Population Survey results (2021-2023) to estimate how many residents in each state live below the federal poverty line.

Read the last section for more information on their methodology.

Ranked: U.S. States by Residents in Poverty

Four populous states—California, Texas, Florida, and New York—account for 13.5 million low-income residents, or more than one-third of all Americans in poverty.

California alone has 4.5 million people struggling to make ends meet, roughly the population of metropolitan Phoenix.

RankState# in Poverty
(Thousands, Sortable)
# in Poverty
(Readable)
Share of All
Americans in Poverty
1California4,5214.5M12.0
2Texas3,9103.9M10.4
3Florida2,7822.8M7.4
4New York2,3492.3M6.2
5North Carolina1,4161.4M3.8
6Georgia1,4001.4M3.7
7Pennsylvania1,3511.4M3.6
8Ohio1,2721.3M3.4
9Illinois1,2451.2M3.3
10Michigan1,1861.2M3.2
11Arizona903903K2.4
12Louisiana853853K2.3
13Virginia783783K2.1
14New Jersey776776K2.1
15Tennessee744744K2.0
16Alabama727727K1.9
17Kentucky699699K1.9
18Missouri675675K1.8
19South Carolina673673K1.8
20Indiana659659K1.8
21Washington658658K1.7
22Massachusetts604604K1.6
23Oklahoma589589K1.6
24Maryland524524K1.4
25Mississippi501501K1.3
26Wisconsin490490K1.3
27Arkansas473473K1.3
28Colorado473473K1.3
29Oregon415415K1.1
30Minnesota409409K1.1
31Nevada409409K1.1
32New Mexico388388K1.0
33Connecticut318318K0.8
34Iowa287287K0.8
35West Virginia268268K0.7
36Kansas255255K0.7
37Utah226226K0.6
38Idaho172172K0.5
39Nebraska165165K0.4
40Hawaii133133K0.4
41Maine120120K0.3
42Montana109109K0.3
43Delaware9898K0.3
44New Hampshire9898K0.3
45Rhode Island9696K0.3
46District of Columbia8888K0.2
47Alaska7474K0.2
48South Dakota7474K0.2
49North Dakota7272K0.2
50Vermont4949K0.1
51Wyoming4949K0.1
N/A🇺🇸 U.S.37,61037.6MN/A

While the Golden State’s higher cost of living may impact this figure, it also underscores how expensive housing can compound economic hardship, even in high-income states.

Fact: People in California have the lowest purchasing power in the country.

Poverty Rates vs. Absolute Numbers

A fair criticism of this visualization is that it doesn’t account for population.

We previously mapped out poverty rates by state in the country to help cover this angle. The table below has the relevant figures.

RankStateState CodeShare of Population
in Poverty
# in Poverty
1LouisianaLA18.9%853K
2New MexicoNM18.5%388K
3MississippiMS17.3%501K
4ArkansasAR15.8%473K
5KentuckyKY15.7%699K
6West VirginiaWV15.3%268K
7OklahomaOK14.9%589K
8AlabamaAL14.6%727K
9District of ColumbiaDC13.4%88K
10North CarolinaNC13.2%1.4M
11TexasTX13.1%3.9M
12GeorgiaGA12.9%1.4M
13NevadaNV12.9%409K
14South CarolinaSC12.7%673K
15FloridaFL12.5%2.8M
16ArizonaAZ12.4%903K
17New YorkNY12.1%2.3M
18MichiganMI11.9%1.2M
19CaliforniaCA11.7%4.5M
20MissouriMO11.1%675K
21OhioOH10.9%1.3M
22PennsylvaniaPA10.7%1.4M
23TennesseeTN10.6%744K
24AlaskaAK10.4%74K
25IllinoisIL10%1.2M
26OregonOR9.8%415K
27IndianaIN9.7%659K
28MontanaMT9.7%109K
29DelawareDE9.6%98K
30HawaiiHI9.3%133K
31North DakotaND9.3%72K
32VirginiaVA9.2%783K
33IowaIA9%287K
34IdahoID8.9%172K
35KansasKS8.9%255K
36Rhode IslandRI8.9%96K
37ConnecticutCT8.8%318K
38MassachusettsMA8.8%604K
39MaineME8.7%120K
40WyomingWY8.6%49K
41MarylandMD8.5%524K
42WashingtonWA8.5%658K
43NebraskaNE8.4%165K
44New JerseyNJ8.4%776K
45WisconsinWI8.4%490K
46South DakotaSD8.3%74K
47ColoradoCO8.2%473K
48VermontVT7.7%49K
49MinnesotaMN7.2%409K
50New HampshireNH7.1%98K
51UtahUT6.7%226K
N/AU.S.US11.4%37.6M

In fact, California’s poverty rate is 12%, solidly middle of the pack.

But its 4.6 million poor residents are larger than the entire state of Oklahoma.

By contrast, Mississippi’s headline-grabbing 17% rate represents about 500,000 people.

Thus, a national food-assistance program needs almost nine times the meal budget for California, even though Mississippi is poorer than California.

Even within similar rate bands, scale varies wildly: Louisiana (18.9%) has 853,000 million people in poverty, compared with 388,000 in New Mexico (18.5%).

Thus, absolute numbers are also necessary to flag where to park mobile clinics, expand SNAP distribution sites, and hire caseworkers.

Fact: New Mexico also has the highest share of households on income or food support.

How Poverty is Measured in America

The way the Census Bureau calculates this line is important and can impact the data.

They use pretax household income against a threshold at three times the cost of a minimum food diet from 1963, adjusted for family size and inflation.

For reference, this is a quick guide on how much a household needs to be earning to be considered below the poverty line in 2023.



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: poverty
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To: Carry_Okie

Someone was doing something like that in a recent thread, comparing median income with cost of living. California has a very high median income, but when you adjust for COL, it doesn’t look so great.


21 posted on 09/30/2025 1:21:24 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: Carry_Okie

Real intelligent point.
Versus AI 😂


22 posted on 09/30/2025 3:18:48 AM PDT by Bobbyvotes (Work is worship! .... Bhagavad Geeta. )
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To: Carry_Okie

“”””A good look at San Francisco and LA belies that. Oh we spend a lot, but the poor don’t see much of it and would blow the dough if they did. A lot of “middle class” people here are in vehicles.”””””

No it doesn’t, it is a good state to be welfare poor in because of all the programs and allowances for various living expenses, and the aggressive nature of the program workers to give them to the poor, even the homeless flock to California because it is easier to be homeless there.


23 posted on 09/30/2025 4:51:05 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: ansel12
even the homeless flock to California because it is easier to be homeless there.

You've obviously never been homeless. It's easier to be homeless here because of the weather.

24 posted on 09/30/2025 6:12:17 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: Carry_Okie

You lived on the streets in California?
Homeless flock to California for more than weather, for one thing it is an extremely friendly to homeless state and with tons of help groups and state aid, and to get back to the poor, the state is good for them not because it will make them not poor, no state does that, California helps the poor with lots of programs and with generous payouts in those programs, even utilities, and the state doesn’t resist people applying, it is very helpful to them and welcoming them to those programs, unlike some states.


25 posted on 09/30/2025 6:42:53 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: ansel12
You lived on the streets in California?

Oakland 1973.

26 posted on 09/30/2025 7:37:43 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: Carry_Okie

Long before modern California, more than a half century ago, when Ronald Reagan was the governor.


27 posted on 09/30/2025 7:42:50 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: Carry_Okie

CA in ‘73 was awesome tho. I visited my grandmother then. 747 westbound from BOS (just like the song). When we landed in SF it was a summertime sunshower. My grandmother remarked how exceptional it was.

You remember that Hippo Burger place? It was very trendy then.


28 posted on 09/30/2025 7:43:28 AM PDT by Justa (Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people....)
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To: ansel12
Long before modern California, more than a half century ago, when Ronald Reagan was the governor.

Oakland wasn't a nice place, even then. Went three days without eating once. All the coffee I could drink was 10 cents. I ended up living on a 27' Chinese junk in Jack London Square the next year. It wasn't a lot better, but at least it was dry and behind a gate. I started refinishing boats for money, but sleeping in the fumes was nasty. A few blocks away, the neighborhood got a good bit rough, with lots of hookers in the doorways.

Never took a dime of government money until I got to college and they surely got it all back and more as a result of that.

29 posted on 09/30/2025 7:58:58 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: yesthatjallen

Yes, the chart is silly looking. Creativity gone wild. The absolute numbers are not worth much either. The % of population by state is much more relevant and of course we see that Oklahoma is right there in the top group of whatever bottom there can be to anything.


30 posted on 09/30/2025 8:18:16 AM PDT by Sequoyah101
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To: Carry_Okie

That is all way off topic since we were talking about the poor, not the homeless, I did my street living in California during the 60s, although I touched on it again in the mid 70s, being good with girls meant it didn’t last long, car living in California in the 70s while depending on arm wrestling and pool to keep me in beer and bar food, I think a little of that in the early 80s, some of that again in the 90s, my years as a drifter meant many times without an address in many different states, but those I mentioned above were in California.


31 posted on 09/30/2025 8:22:43 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: AndyTheBear
The ranking obviously should be by percentage of population in poverty.

The last chart shows that. It's not what I expected.

32 posted on 09/30/2025 8:34:53 AM PDT by gitmo (If your theology doesn’t become your biography, what good is it?)
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To: SeekAndFind

How is poverty determined? What level of income? Does that level of income take into account the relative cost of living in a particular area? For example, it costs a great deal more to live in LA than it does to live in a small town in southeast Ohio.


33 posted on 09/30/2025 8:36:35 AM PDT by meyer (CONGRATULATIONS WORLD, IT’S TIME FOR PEACE!)
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To: SeekAndFind

One of the poorest areas in the US is the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota. The residents there are considered to be o“wards of the government” and provided with free education including college at land grant universities, free medical and dental care, ample housing assistance and other direct government subsidies. Other than a tribal casino there are few employment opportunities and many residents live off welfare benefits. Sadly drug and alcohol abuse are endemic and many children are born with fetal alcohol syndrome. A perfect welfare state has yielded poverty on a third world level.


34 posted on 09/30/2025 8:56:24 AM PDT by The Great RJ
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To: ansel12

One finds out what poverty means when all your tools are stolen. They had taken years to accumulate, starting from nothing with only hand labor to feed myself and buy gas for the car. The family helped a little, but I had to drop out of school.

Manual labor is exhausting. It doesn’t leave much left for studying calculus or physics.


35 posted on 09/30/2025 9:04:32 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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