Income Poverty Rate

Definition

Percentage of households with income below the federal poverty threshold, 2011.

Description

Income poverty is a fundamental indicator of financial insecurity and instability. If an individual’s or a family’s total income is below the poverty threshold, then they are considered poor. Official poverty estimates are calculated each year by the Census Bureau using a set of income thresholds that vary by family size and composition.

For years, poverty experts and researchers have contended that the official poverty measure is misleading and does not reflect the full amount of income that a family needs to live. The official measure was developed about a half-century ago and is based on the assumption that families spend one third of their after-tax income on food. Two of the most common criticisms of the official poverty measure are that it doesn’t account for government benefits like food stamps and the Earned Income Tax Credit and differences in the cost of living across locations.

In 2011, the Census Bureau released a supplemental poverty measure to address many of these criticisms. Click here to read more about the supplemental measure and how it differs from the official measure.

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Income Poverty Rate

State	Income Poverty Rate (%)	Rank
United States	14.6%
Alabama	18.3%	45
Alaska	8.5%	1
Arizona	16.1%	38
Arkansas	18.9%	48
California	14.6%	29
Colorado	12.3%	15
Connecticut	10.6%	7
Delaware	10.4%	5
District of Columbia	16.1%	37
Florida	15.2%	33
Georgia	17.4%	44
Hawaii	11.4%	11
Idaho	15.1%	32
Illinois	13.6%	24
Indiana	14.4%	27
Iowa	12.0%	12
Kansas	12.8%	20
Kentucky	18.7%	47
Louisiana	19.7%	50
Maine	14.6%	28
Maryland	9.4%	3
Massachusetts	12.1%	13
Michigan	15.7%	36
Minnesota	11.2%	9
Mississippi	21.2%	51
Missouri	15.0%	30
Montana	13.3%	23
Nebraska	12.8%	19
Nevada	14.0%	25
New Hampshire	9.0%	2
New Jersey	10.1%	4
New Mexico	19.3%	49
New York	15.0%	31
North Carolina	16.2%	41
North Dakota	12.5%	17
Ohio	15.4%	34
Oklahoma	16.2%	39
Oregon	15.6%	35
Pennsylvania	13.0%	21
Rhode Island	14.0%	26
South Carolina	17.3%	43
South Dakota	13.1%	22
Tennessee	17.0%	42
Texas	16.2%	40
Utah	12.7%	18
Vermont	11.3%	10
Virginia	11.0%	8
Washington	12.5%	16
West Virginia	18.4%	46
Wisconsin	12.3%	14
Wyoming	10.5%	6

Source

2011 American Community Survey. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, 2012.

Note: The Census Bureau recommends using the ACS for single-year estimates of income and poverty at the state level.