Where Are the Poor in America? States Ranked by Poverty

Visual Capitalist ^ | 09/29/25 | Pallavi Rao

[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.

Rank	State	# in Poverty (Thousands, Sortable)	# in Poverty (Readable)	Share of All Americans in Poverty
1	California	4,521	4.5M	12.0
2	Texas	3,910	3.9M	10.4
3	Florida	2,782	2.8M	7.4
4	New York	2,349	2.3M	6.2
5	North Carolina	1,416	1.4M	3.8
6	Georgia	1,400	1.4M	3.7
7	Pennsylvania	1,351	1.4M	3.6
8	Ohio	1,272	1.3M	3.4
9	Illinois	1,245	1.2M	3.3
10	Michigan	1,186	1.2M	3.2
11	Arizona	903	903K	2.4
12	Louisiana	853	853K	2.3
13	Virginia	783	783K	2.1
14	New Jersey	776	776K	2.1
15	Tennessee	744	744K	2.0
16	Alabama	727	727K	1.9
17	Kentucky	699	699K	1.9
18	Missouri	675	675K	1.8
19	South Carolina	673	673K	1.8
20	Indiana	659	659K	1.8
21	Washington	658	658K	1.7
22	Massachusetts	604	604K	1.6
23	Oklahoma	589	589K	1.6
24	Maryland	524	524K	1.4
25	Mississippi	501	501K	1.3
26	Wisconsin	490	490K	1.3
27	Arkansas	473	473K	1.3
28	Colorado	473	473K	1.3
29	Oregon	415	415K	1.1
30	Minnesota	409	409K	1.1
31	Nevada	409	409K	1.1
32	New Mexico	388	388K	1.0
33	Connecticut	318	318K	0.8
34	Iowa	287	287K	0.8
35	West Virginia	268	268K	0.7
36	Kansas	255	255K	0.7
37	Utah	226	226K	0.6
38	Idaho	172	172K	0.5
39	Nebraska	165	165K	0.4
40	Hawaii	133	133K	0.4
41	Maine	120	120K	0.3
42	Montana	109	109K	0.3
43	Delaware	98	98K	0.3
44	New Hampshire	98	98K	0.3
45	Rhode Island	96	96K	0.3
46	District of Columbia	88	88K	0.2
47	Alaska	74	74K	0.2
48	South Dakota	74	74K	0.2
49	North Dakota	72	72K	0.2
50	Vermont	49	49K	0.1
51	Wyoming	49	49K	0.1
N/A	🇺🇸 U.S.	37,610	37.6M	N/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.

Rank	State	State Code	Share of Population in Poverty	# in Poverty
1	Louisiana	LA	18.9%	853K
2	New Mexico	NM	18.5%	388K
3	Mississippi	MS	17.3%	501K
4	Arkansas	AR	15.8%	473K
5	Kentucky	KY	15.7%	699K
6	West Virginia	WV	15.3%	268K
7	Oklahoma	OK	14.9%	589K
8	Alabama	AL	14.6%	727K
9	District of Columbia	DC	13.4%	88K
10	North Carolina	NC	13.2%	1.4M
11	Texas	TX	13.1%	3.9M
12	Georgia	GA	12.9%	1.4M
13	Nevada	NV	12.9%	409K
14	South Carolina	SC	12.7%	673K
15	Florida	FL	12.5%	2.8M
16	Arizona	AZ	12.4%	903K
17	New York	NY	12.1%	2.3M
18	Michigan	MI	11.9%	1.2M
19	California	CA	11.7%	4.5M
20	Missouri	MO	11.1%	675K
21	Ohio	OH	10.9%	1.3M
22	Pennsylvania	PA	10.7%	1.4M
23	Tennessee	TN	10.6%	744K
24	Alaska	AK	10.4%	74K
25	Illinois	IL	10%	1.2M
26	Oregon	OR	9.8%	415K
27	Indiana	IN	9.7%	659K
28	Montana	MT	9.7%	109K
29	Delaware	DE	9.6%	98K
30	Hawaii	HI	9.3%	133K
31	North Dakota	ND	9.3%	72K
32	Virginia	VA	9.2%	783K
33	Iowa	IA	9%	287K
34	Idaho	ID	8.9%	172K
35	Kansas	KS	8.9%	255K
36	Rhode Island	RI	8.9%	96K
37	Connecticut	CT	8.8%	318K
38	Massachusetts	MA	8.8%	604K
39	Maine	ME	8.7%	120K
40	Wyoming	WY	8.6%	49K
41	Maryland	MD	8.5%	524K
42	Washington	WA	8.5%	658K
43	Nebraska	NE	8.4%	165K
44	New Jersey	NJ	8.4%	776K
45	Wisconsin	WI	8.4%	490K
46	South Dakota	SD	8.3%	74K
47	Colorado	CO	8.2%	473K
48	Vermont	VT	7.7%	49K
49	Minnesota	MN	7.2%	409K
50	New Hampshire	NH	7.1%	98K
51	Utah	UT	6.7%	226K
N/A	U.S.	US	11.4%	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.

• One person: ≤$15,480

• Two people: ≤$19,680

• Three people: ≤$24,230

• Four people: ≤$31,200

[FreedomPoster]

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.

[Bobbyvotes]

Real intelligent point.
Versus AI 😂

[ansel12]

“”””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.

[Carry_Okie]

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.

[ansel12]

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.

[Carry_Okie]

You lived on the streets in California?

Oakland 1973.

[ansel12]

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

[Justa]

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.

[Carry_Okie]

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.

[Sequoyah101]

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.

[ansel12]

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.

[gitmo]

The ranking obviously should be by percentage of population in poverty.

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

[meyer]

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.

[The Great RJ]

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.

[Carry_Okie]

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.

[trebb]

Looks hokey to me...