What is the poverty rate in your state?

VintageBetter

VintageBetter

Senior Member
I'll answer later, but wow, an alarming statistic I read this morning is that the poverty rate among Native Americans is 23%. That's appalling.
 

Looks like 8% for here. I checked out WV knowing they've always had a higher rate, and they're coming in at 12%, so the tables seem accurate. Highest state, Mississippi. Lowest state, New Hampshire. Great topic, @VintageBetter !
 

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In my state didn't really interest me. But as a topic my interest was more about poverty in seniors.

I asked about 2024 & this info & much more is in the article


Poverty Is Higher Among Older Women Than Older Men
The poverty rate was higher among women than men ages 65 and older, based on both the official measure (11.0% vs. 8.5%) and the Supplemental Poverty Measure (12.4% vs.10.2%) (Figure 3, Appendix Table 1). In absolute numbers, more older women than older men (3.2 million vs 2.2 million) lived in poverty under the official measure, and under the Supplemental Poverty Measure (3.8 million vs 2.6 million). Similarly, a larger share of women ages 65 and older than older men had incomes below 200% of poverty under both measures.

How Many Older Adults Live in Poverty? | KFF

I hope this doesn't hijack your thread. If you think it does ask Matrix to remove it.
 
CallMeKate said:
Looks like 8% for here. Missouri lists as 8.5 according to NIH.gov poverty table, @Paco Dennis .
I checked out WV knowing they've always had a higher rate, and they're coming in at 12%, so the tables seem accurate.
Highest state, Mississippi. Lowest state, New Hampshire. Great topic, @VintageBetter !
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The stats I got come from https://www.communityaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/MCAN-MissouriPovertyReport-2020.pdf
You should check out their web page...quite impressive. Might be a bit bias for the poor, but it really paints a vivid picture of Missouri's poor.
 
VintageBetter said:
I'll answer later, but wow, an alarming statistic I read this morning is that the poverty rate among Native Americans is 23%. That's appalling.
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It's a travesty, but the historical background makes it unsurprising.

Personally, I don't know one of them who uses the contortion "Native American" in normal conversation. They always refer to themselves as Indians, especially elders and home-folk on the res.
 
https://poverty.umich.edu/2024/03/2...education-food-insecurity-affordable-housing/
  • 13% of Michiganders were living on income below the federal poverty line, which is about the same as the previous year. The national poverty rate is 11.5%.
  • 17.6% of children under age 18 were in households below the federal poverty line.
  • 31.3% of residents paid 30% or more of their income on housing costs, which is above the threshold of what’s considered affordable.
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NAFTA was probably the single factor that began the steep decline in standard of living for all but the top levels of income.
 
The "Poverty Rate" is an arbitrary term used by governments, normally in a politically advantageous way, to make decisions which profit their beliefs and ideologies. Only in America do we consider living in multi-room homes, owning multiple cars and iPhones, and eating out every day to be poverty. I have no idea what the poverty rate is in my state because there is no actual definition for the term.
 
dilettante said:
It's a travesty, but the historical background makes it unsurprising.

Personally, I don't know one of them who uses the contortion "Native American" in normal conversation. They always refer to themselves as Indians, especially elders and home-folk on the res.
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I have not used the word Indian in decades. Native Americans, or Original People. My husband was a Canadian Original Indigenous People Person. Now that's a mouthful!

He did not like 'Indian.'
 
I use Native American mainly because we do have many immigrants from India in the area. As far as the Native Americans that I have met or known, they usually identify themselves by their tribe here (Navajo, Pima, etc).

13.1% for Arizona.
 
Pepper said:
He did not like 'Indian.'
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Perhaps it varies by geographic location, nation and band, history of co-existence, or the individual's social and economic status? The people I know are all working stiffs or small business operators of the Three Fires Confederacy (Anishinaabe).

As far as folks who immigrated from India go, we have plenty of those as well. My neighbors across the street, another family down at the corner, one of my doctors, tons people I've worked with over decades, social media friends, etc.

There is rarely any confusion.
 
Florida: 12.7%

“According to U.S. Census Bureau data, Florida is home to 22.61 million people — and 12.7% of them live in poverty. That’s more than 2.87 million Floridians. A higher percentage of Sunshine State residents languish in poverty than in the country as a whole. Nationally, the rate is 11.5% according to 2022 Census data, the latest on record.”
 
Apparently people live in "poverty", but what constitutes "poverty"????? The definition of a poverty level is having an income, which is considered being poor. DUH. If you live next door to Bill Gates, I guess you could be considered "poor". Yeah, there are people, who do not have enough money for their needs, I don't know how you figure what poverty is.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
Apparently people live in "poverty", but what constitutes "poverty"????? The definition of a poverty level is having an income, which is considered being poor. DUH. If you live next door to Bill Gates, I guess you could be considered "poor". Yeah, there are people, who do not have enough money for their needs, I don't know how you figure what poverty is.
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Well, you could have viewed the video linked within the article I linked above:
I doubt it was geo-restricted to US viewing.
 
dilettante said:
Well, you could have viewed the video linked within the article I linked above:
I doubt it was geo-restricted to US viewing.
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I don't think poverty as "asset limited, income constrained, employed" really clears up what is meant by the term. Yeah, I know what poor is, but what level of poor constitutes "poverty". Being poor in South Sudan, and being poor in Beverly Hills are two different levels of "poor".
 
Poverty is slippery to define. Basing statistics on income alone is pure folly.

Are their homes outright owned, or rented, or do they require a monthly mortgage payment?
If they rent, are their costs rent-controlled or otherwise structured so they don't pay the going rate?
Do they live alone or cohabitate with a partner or roommate who also brings in an income?
Are there underage dependents?
How much support are they getting from social services?
Are they retired on Social Security & pensions but have a healthy nest egg to draw from each month?

And on it goes.
 
Apparently, as of 2023 Calif retained its title of having the highest level of poverty of any state. People living below the poverty line make up 13.2% of Cali's population.

And it's ultra-wealthy population increased by 158 percent.
 
Murrmurr said:
Apparently, as of 2023 Calif retained its title of having the highest level of poverty of any state. People living below the poverty line make up 13.2% of Cali's population.

And it's ultra-wealthy population increased by 158 percent.
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As my mom said, the rich get richer and the poor get children. However, our poor have cell phones, TVs, etc. and benefits, something my mother during the depression never got.
 
The figures I saw for Nashville was 14.1%.
13.3% for the state of Tennessee.
9.6% for high school graduates.
26.1% for non-high school graduates.
22.9% for disabled residents.

Since I've moved here, they have torn down the majority of older homes around us and have
built these small, two story 'homes', two on the same spot 1 house stood.
Starting price...$300,000 and up.
All the car tags are from California and Colorado.
Money keeps moving here and this should change the numbers soon.

There are just a few of us hold outs.
 
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