10 States in U.S with the highest poverty rate
The compiled list for this survey of States with the highest poverty rate covers about 50 U.S. states.
District of Columbia, and the territory of Puerto Rico and their populations’ poverty rate, with data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s five-year American Community Survey taken 2016 to 2020
The American Community Survey is a large demographic survey collected throughout the year using mailed questionnaires, telephone interviews, and visits from Census Bureau field representatives to about 3.5 million household addresses annually, regardless of their legal immigration status.
A total of 42.31 million citizens fell under the poverty rate out of the available household’s census was conducted on. Poverty rates seemed highest in the states of Mississippi (19.58%), Louisiana (18.65%), New Mexico (18.55%), West Virginia (17.10%), Kentucky (16.61%), and Arkansas (16.08%), and they were lowest in the states of New Hampshire (7.42%), Maryland (9.02%), Utah (9.13%), Hawaii (9.26%), and Minnesota (9.33%).
Get the full list below
| N/O | State | Population | Population under poverty line | Poverty rate % |
| 1 | Mississippi | 2,883,074 | 564,439 | 19.58% |
| 2 | Louisiana | 4,532,187 | 845,230 | 18.65% |
| 3 | Kentucky | 4,322,881 | 717,895 | 16.61% |
| 4 | Arkansa | 2,923,585 | 470,190 | 16.08% |
| 5 | Alabama | 4,771,614 | 762,642 | 15.98% |
| 6 | District of Columbia | 669,089 | 103,391 | 15.45% |
| 7 | Oklahoma | 3,833,712 | 585,520 | 15.27% |
| 8 | South Carolina | 4,950,181 | 726,470 | 14.68% |
| 9 | Tennessee | 6,603,468 | 965,213 | 14.62% |
| 10 | Georgia | 10,238,369 | 1,461,572 | 14.28% |
