Poverty continues to fall in most states, though progress appears to be slowing
The 2018 American Community Survey (ACS) data released today shows that the slowdown in income growth from 2017 to 2018 reported earlier this month by the Census Bureau also indicates a slowdown in progress reducing poverty in many states. From 2017 to 2018, the poverty rate decreased in 36 states and the District of Columbia, with 14 of those states experiencing statistically significant declines. For comparison, from 2016 to 2017, poverty fell in 42 states plus the District of Columbia, with 20 states and the District of Columbia having statistically significant reductions.
The poverty rate rose in 14 states, with increases of 1.3 percentage points in Rhode Island, and 0.8 percentage points each, in Connecticut and Arkansas—although only Connecticut’s increase was statistically significant.
The continued reductions in poverty rates for most states are welcome news; however, most states have still not recovered to their 2007, pre-Great Recession poverty rates. Moreover, 38 states had higher poverty rates in 2018 than in 2000.
The national poverty rate, as measured by the ACS, fell 0.3 percentage points to 13.1 percent in 2018, making it nearly the same as the ACS poverty rate in 2007, when it was 13.0 percent. It remains 0.9 percentage points above the rate from 2000.
Between 2017 and 2018, West Virginia had the largest decline in its poverty rate (-1.3 percentage points), followed by Delaware (-1.1 percentage points), Louisiana (-1.1 percentage points), Idaho (-1.0 percentage points), and Arizona (-0.9 percentage points). Poverty increased most in in Rhode Island (1.3 percentage points), Connecticut (0.8 percentage points), Arkansas (0.8 percentage points), Maine (0.5 percentage point), Montana (0.5 percentage point), and Iowa (0.5 percentage point).
Areas of the country that had sizable drops in poverty from 2016 to 2017 saw much smaller declines—or even small increases—in poverty from 2017 to 2018. For example, poverty fell for all states in the West North Central division of the Midwest (Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas) from 2016 to 2017, yet in 2018, poverty rates either held steady or rose slightly. A similar trend is visible for the East South Central (Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi) and West South Central (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas) divisions of the South. Notably, all states in the Pacific Census division (Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska, and Hawaii) and the Middle Atlantic Census division (New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) experienced a decline in poverty.
Continued income growth in most states is helping to lift more people and families out of poverty, but progress appears to be slowing. State and federal lawmakers should be enacting policies to keep the overall economy growing, and to lift wages and incomes specifically for workers and families at the bottom. Particularly for states in the South and Midwest, where progress reducing poverty appears stalled, raising the minimum wage is one simple tool that would help raise incomes for those most in need, and that lawmakers in those states have largely yet to employ.
Poverty rate by state, 2018
| State | Change in poverty rate, 2000 to 2018 | Change 2007 to 2018 | Change in poverty rate, 2017 to 2018 | 2018 poverty rate relative to national average | Poverty rate, 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 1.2% | -0.1% | -0.1% | 3.7% | 16.8% |
| Alaska | 1.8% | 2.0% | -0.2% | -2.2% | 10.9% |
| Arizona | -1.6% | -0.2% | -0.9% | 0.9% | 14.0% |
| Arkansas | 0.2% | -0.7% | 0.8% | 4.1% | 17.2% |
| California | -0.9% | 0.4% | -0.5% | -0.3% | 12.8% |
| Colorado | 0.9% | -2.4% | -0.7% | -3.5% | 9.6% |
| Connecticut | 2.7% | 2.5% | 0.8% | -2.7% | 10.4% |
| Delaware | 3.2% | 2.0% | -1.1% | -0.6% | 12.5% |
| DC | -1.3% | -0.2% | -0.4% | 3.1% | 16.2% |
| Florida | 0.8% | 1.5% | -0.4% | 0.5% | 13.6% |
| Georgia | 1.7% | 0.0% | -0.6% | 1.2% | 14.3% |
| Hawaii | 0.0% | 0.8% | -0.7% | -4.3% | 8.8% |
| Idaho | 0.4% | -0.3% | -1.0% | -1.3% | 11.8% |
| Illinois | 1.0% | 0.2% | -0.5% | -1.0% | 12.1% |
| Indiana | 3.0% | 0.8% | -0.4% | 0.0% | 13.1% |
| Iowa | 1.2% | 0.2% | 0.5% | -1.9% | 11.2% |
| Kansas | 2.5% | 0.8% | 0.1% | -1.1% | 12.0% |
| Kentucky | 0.5% | -0.4% | -0.3% | 3.8% | 16.9% |
| Louisiana | -1.4% | 0.0% | -1.1% | 5.5% | 18.6% |
| Maine | 1.5% | -0.4% | 0.5% | -1.5% | 11.6% |
| Maryland | -0.3% | 0.7% | -0.3% | -4.1% | 9.0% |
| Massachusetts | 0.4% | 0.1% | -0.5% | -3.1% | 10.0% |
| Michigan | 4.0% | 0.1% | -0.1% | 1.0% | 14.1% |
| Minnesota | 2.7% | 0.1% | 0.1% | -3.5% | 9.6% |
| Mississippi | 1.5% | -0.9% | -0.1% | 6.6% | 19.7% |
| Missouri | 2.0% | 0.2% | -0.2% | 0.1% | 13.2% |
| Montana | -0.4% | -1.1% | 0.5% | -0.1% | 13.0% |
| Nebraska | 1.4% | -0.2% | 0.2% | -2.1% | 11.0% |
| Nevada | 3.0% | 2.2% | -0.1% | -0.2% | 12.9% |
| New Hampshire | 2.3% | 0.5% | -0.1% | -5.5% | 7.6% |
| New Jersey | 1.6% | 0.9% | -0.5% | -3.6% | 9.5% |
| New Mexico | 1.5% | 1.4% | -0.2% | 6.4% | 19.5% |
| New York | 0.5% | -0.1% | -0.5% | 0.5% | 13.6% |
| North Carolina | 0.9% | -0.3% | -0.7% | 0.9% | 14.0% |
| North Dakota | -0.9% | -1.4% | 0.4% | -2.4% | 10.7% |
| Ohio | 2.8% | 0.8% | -0.1% | 0.8% | 13.9% |
| Oklahoma | 1.8% | -0.3% | -0.2% | 2.5% | 15.6% |
| Oregon | -0.6% | -0.3% | -0.6% | -0.5% | 12.6% |
| Pennsylvania | 1.7% | 0.6% | -0.3% | -0.9% | 12.2% |
| Rhode Island | 2.2% | 0.9% | 1.3% | -0.2% | 12.9% |
| South Carolina | 0.9% | 0.3% | -0.1% | 2.2% | 15.3% |
| South Dakota | 1.6% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 13.1% |
| Tennessee | 1.8% | -0.6% | 0.3% | 2.2% | 15.3% |
| Texas | -0.2% | -1.4% | 0.2% | 1.8% | 14.9% |
| Utah | 0.2% | -0.7% | -0.7% | -4.1% | 9.0% |
| Vermont | 0.3% | 0.9% | -0.3% | -2.1% | 11.0% |
| Virginia | 1.5% | 0.8% | 0.1% | -2.4% | 10.7% |
| Washington | -1.3% | -1.1% | -0.7% | -2.8% | 10.3% |
| West Virginia | -0.8% | 0.9% | -1.3% | 4.7% | 17.8% |
| Wisconsin | 2.1% | 0.2% | -0.3% | -2.1% | 11.0% |
| Wyoming | -0.3% | 2.4% | -0.2% | -2.0% | 11.1% |
Source: EPI Analysis of American Community Survey data
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