The Poorest States in the “Greatest Nation on Earth”

For general information and discussion…

We have a whole lot of work cutout for us over the next decade while the disparate political factions, both within the states and at the national level whistle in the wind…

US Census | Poverty: 2008 and 2009 | Issued September 2010

American Community Survey Briefs

www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/acsbr09-1.pdf

This report is one of a series produced to highlight results from the 2009 American Community Survey (ACS). It presents poverty estimates based on data from the 2008 and the 2009 ACS. The report compares national and state level poverty rates and summarizes the distribution of income-to-poverty ratios for each state and the District of Columbia.

The ACS also provides poverty estimates for counties, places, and other localities.

HIGHLIGHTS

• In the 2009 ACS, 14.3 percent of the U.S. population had income below their respective poverty thresholds. The number of people in poverty increased to 42.9 million.
• Thirty-one states saw increases in both the number and percentage of people in poverty between the 2008 and the 2009 ACS.
• No state had a statistically significant decline in either the number in poverty or the poverty rate.
• In the 2009 ACS, 18.9 percent of people in the United States had income less than 125 percent of their poverty threshold, compared to 17.6 percent in the 2008 ACS.
• The percent of people with income less than 50 percent of their poverty threshold increased from 5.6 percent in the 2008 ACS to 6.3 in the 2009 ACS.

.

.
To view the entire report:

www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/acsbr09-1.pdf

As individuals, the best we can do on the short term is to reach out locally to those you see as in need, no matter where we personally stand financially.

And as I was taught, “A helping hand up is better than a handout…”

~OGD~

cross-posted from: TPM Café Castaways > here

.