While the poverty rate in the U.S. is 15.6%, in some towns it is nearly three times that. 24/7 Wall St. found there are 20 such places. As a matter of fact, the town with the highest rate is San Joaquin city, California where the number is 52.7%
To determine those towns with poverty rates over 40%, 24/7 Wall St. considered 2010-2014 five year average poverty rates from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. We excluded towns for which the margin of error at 90% confidence was greater than 10% for poverty level, median household income, and population. Because poverty rates can be skewed in areas with high shares of college students who frequently have very low incomes, college towns were also excluded. Some towns are not part of a metropolitan statistical area. Unincorporated regions called Census Designated Areas were also considered. Median household income, median home values, as well as the percentage of adults with at least a bachelor’s degree also came from the ACS and are five year estimates through 2014. Since unemployment rates in most towns with less than 25,000 people are not available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment rates came from the U.S. Census Bureau and are also average for the five year period 2010 through 2014.
The 20 towns with poverty rates over 40%:
20. Homedale city, Idaho
Poverty rate: 40.1%
Population :2,595
19. Reading city, Pennsylvania
Poverty rate: 40.1%
Population: 88,051
18. Flint city, Michigan
Poverty rate: 41.6%
Population: 100,569
17. Parlier city, California
Poverty rate: 41.7%
Population: 14,750
16. East Cleveland city, Ohio
Poverty rate: 42.1%
Population: 17,619
15. East Lansing city, Michigan
Poverty rate: 42.9%
Population: 48,611
14. Swainsboro city, Georgia
Poverty rate: 43.3%
Population: 7,431
13. University CDP (Hillsborough County), Florida
Poverty rate: 43.9%
Population: 41,732
12. Clarkston city, Georgia
Poverty rate: 43.9%
Population: 7,717
11. Lindsay city, California
Poverty rate: 44.1%
Population: 12,688
10. Muskegon Heights city, Michigan
Poverty rate: 44.5%
Population:10,807
9. East St. Louis city, Illinois
Poverty rate: 45.4%
Population: 26,697
8. Troy town, North Carolina
Poverty rate:</strong> 45.5%
Population: 3,458
7. Florida City city, Florida
Poverty rate: 46.2%
Population: 11,853
6. Benton Harbor city, Michigan
Poverty rate: 47.4%
Population: 10,056
5. Hamtramck city, Michigan
Poverty rate: 48.5%
Population: 22,256
4. Orange Cove city, California
Poverty rate:</strong> 49.6%
Population: 9,473
3. State College borough, Pennsylvania
Poverty rate: 49.7%
Population: 42,066
2. Macon city, Mississippi
Poverty rate:49.9%
Population: 2,687
1. San Joaquin city, California
Poverty rate: 52.7%
Population: 4,010
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Latest from 24/7
