Weak economic recovery reflected in high state-level poverty and child poverty rates

For Immediate Release: Thursday, September 22, 2011
Contact: Phoebe Silag or Karen Conner, news@epi.org 202-775-8810

Weak economic recovery reflected in high state-level poverty and child poverty rates

New American Community Survey (ACS) poverty data for 2010 released today by the US Census Bureau paint a painful picture of families paying the price for an economic recovery that has left far too many of them behind. The combined impact of high unemployment and declining wages has resulted in a national poverty rate of 15.1% (as determined by the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, released last week). Today’s state-level data release tells us that poverty rates range from 8.3% in New Hampshire to 22.4% in Mississippi.

And while overall poverty rates are alarming, child poverty rates tell the tale of a wealthy nation that seems content to leave a significant portion of its children behind. Nearly one in three children in Mississippi (32.5%), the District of Columbia (30.4%), and New Mexico (30.0%) lived in poverty in 2010, and in nearly half of the states more than one in five children lived in poverty last year. Unless and until national and state policy makers work together to put Americans back to work and to aggressively redouble efforts to reduce poverty, we will continue to see poverty and child poverty rates that highlight persistent inequalities in this wealthy nation.

Poverty and child poverty rates by state

	Population for whom poverty status is determined		Children (Under 18) for whom poverty status is determined


	# Below Poverty	% Below Poverty	# Below Poverty	% Below Poverty
United States	46,215,956	15.3	15,749,129	21.6
Alabama	888,290	19	310,590	27.7
Alaska	69,279	9.9	23,773	12.9
Arizona	1,094,249	17.4	392,229	24.4
Arkansas	534,898	18.8	193,081	27.6
California	5,783,043	15.8	2,012,585	22
Colorado	659,786	13.4	210,532	17.4
Connecticut	350,145	10.1	103,498	12.8
Delaware	103,427	11.8	36,655	18.1
DC	109,423	19.2	30,555	30.4
Florida	3,047,343	16.5	923,963	23.5
Georgia	1,688,932	17.9	610,722	24.8
Hawaii	142,185	10.7	41,230	13.9
Idaho	242,272	15.7	80,316	19
Illinois	1,731,711	13.8	600,045	19.4
Indiana	962,775	15.3	342,172	21.7
Iowa	370,507	12.6	115,365	16.3
Kansas	377,530	13.6	131,258	18.4
Kentucky	800,226	19	262,760	26.3
Louisiana	825,144	18.7	299,779	27.3
Maine	167,242	12.9	47,727	17.8
Maryland	557,140	9.9	173,113	13
Massachusetts	725,143	11.4	200,817	14.3
Michigan	1,618,257	16.8	538,649	23.5
Minnesota	599,516	11.6	192,437	15.2
Mississippi	643,883	22.4	241,595	32.5
Missouri	888,570	15.3	290,959	20.9
Montana	140,969	14.6	43,818	20.1
Nebraska	229,923	12.9	81,952	18.2
Nevada	398,027	14.9	144,204	22
New Hampshire	105,786	8.3	28,315	10
New Jersey	884,789	10.3	295,346	14.5
New Mexico	413,851	20.4	153,558	30
New York	2,821,470	14.9	900,626	21.2
North Carolina	1,627,602	17.5	559,875	24.9
North Dakota	84,895	13	24,116	16.2
Ohio	1,779,032	15.8	623,852	23.3
Oklahoma	616,610	16.9	226,679	24.7
Oregon	596,408	15.8	183,859	21.6
Pennsylvania	1,648,184	13.4	522,189	19.1
Rhode Island	142,188	14	42,221	19
South Carolina	815,755	18.2	277,722	26.1
South Dakota	113,760	14.4	35,960	18.2
Tennessee	1,095,466	17.7	377,066	25.7
Texas	4,414,481	17.9	1,751,189	25.7
Utah	359,242	13.2	135,565	15.7
Vermont	76,352	12.7	21,143	16.7
Virginia	861,969	11.1	264,601	14.5
Washington	888,718	13.4	284,045	18.2
West Virginia	326,507	18.1	95,744	25.5
Wisconsin	731,479	13.2	249,826	19.1
Wyoming	61,577	11.2	19,253	14.3

Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, Table S1701 Poverty Status in the Past 12 Months.

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