The 10 Poorest States In America For 2023

The 10 Poorest States In America For 2023

1. Mississippi

We’re in Mississippi, the nation’s first poorest state. In Mississippi, 19.4% of people live in poverty, meaning nearly 1 in 4 families earns less than about $25,000 annually. That’s the same poverty rate as the African nation of Namibia. That’s poor. Factors that contribute to the very poor atmosphere here are a 6.85% unemployment rate, and up until a couple years ago, 1 in 4 Mississippians wasn’t finishing high school. Hard to get ahead when you don’t study.

When you google mississippi, the first auto suggest is why is mississippi so poor. SO why is Mississippi so poor? For many of the reasons we’ve already talked about before. It’s just worse here than anywhere else. Poor education and limited job opportunities are a big factor. High incarceration rates and a history of racial segregation has held back a large percentage of the population. For many Mississippians, it’s a generational problem. And for quite a few of them, a government safety net of welfare and unemployment makes being poor a lifetime goal.

There are limitless opportunities in Mississippi, as there are in the other states on this list. Being poor is not a life sentence. While these states have large populations that have been poor for ages, it doesn’t have to be so.

Population: 2,967,023
Rank Last Year: 1 (No Change)
Median Income: $49,111 (First worst)
Poverty Level: 19.4% (First worst)
Unemployment Rate: 6.8% (Third worst)
More On Mississippi: Photos | Rent

2. Louisiana

We’re heading back to the south where we will remain for most of the rest of our unwealthy excursion. The next stop takes us to Louisiana. Too bad we don’t have enough money to buy booze – they look like they’re having so much fun.

Here, more than 19% of residents live in poverty, and families command a yearly paycheck of around $46,000. That’s not enough for many people here to climb the success ladder.

Other statistics that are eye-opening? Louisiana is last in the nation for income gap by gender. Louisianans are 3rd worst for food insecurity and 3rd worst for education scores. The last statistic makes it tough to entice job growth, since the state doesn’t have the educated population to support it.

Corporate subsidies aren’t helping things in Louisiana. Look at this graph that depicts how much taxpayer money goes from public to private coffers in the Pelican State.

Louisiana’s abundant natural resources is a blessing and a curse. While the state enjoys the windfalls that come with oil and natural gas extraction, many of its residents have become dependent on the energy sector for a paycheck. And It won’t last forever.

There’s a sense of fatalism in Louisiana, too. Poor people just remain…poor here. It is what it is they say. All we can do is pray they say. There’s little urgency here to seek change.

Even though you’re poor, there’s still plenty to do on a budget. Like…actually no all of these things suck. Being broke means you can’t do fun stuff. Never mind.

Population: 4,657,305
Rank Last Year: 3 (Up 1)
Median Income: $53,571 (Fourth worst)
Poverty Level: 18.8% (Second worst)
Unemployment Rate: 6.8% (Fourth worst)
More On Louisiana: Photos | Rent

3. West Virginia

The poverty rate is 18% in West Virginia, and families bring in about $44k a year – both very low numbers. However, a couple bright spots keep West Virginians from ranking as even poorer. The unemployment rate isn’t so bad here, so that’s good. And the cost of living is so low here that low salaries mean more families can get by and remain out of poverty.

However, when Walmart is your state’s biggest employer, that’s indicative of a struggling worker base.

West Virginia is in a tough spot. It’s a beautiful state, but all those rolling hills means it’s hard to build big cities and industry. And prescription meds and booze have taken a toll on a large part of the population – West Virginia ranks first in the nation for overdoses.

Migration studies have shown that 60% more people moved out of West Virginia than moved in. And, West Virginia is the only state where death rates exceed birth rates.

Population: 1,801,049
Rank Last Year: 4 (Up 1)
Median Income: $50,884 (Second worst)
Poverty Level: 16.9% (Fourth worst)
Unemployment Rate: 6.4% (Seventh worst)
More On West Virginia: Photos | Rent

4. New Mexico

In New Mexico, 20% of residents live in poverty, and families bring in about $46,000 a year. That’s about $10,000 less than the national average. 1 in 3 kids lives in poverty here, which is one big reason New Mexico ranked last in the nation for places to raise a family.

Native American reservations and illegal immigrants pad the poverty numbers here, too.

When you look at the nation’s most federally dependent states, New Mexico is at the top. That means New Mexico can’t collect enough from income taxes, and must rely on federal subsidies to help pay for schools, roads, health care and welfare programs.

And we just talked about Louisiana – they receive the MOST assistance from the US government to make up THEIR state budget.

Apparently, things are getting worse in New Mexico, not better. More young working age adults are leaving the state than coming into it, which means more and more federal assistance will be needed down the road.

There’s hope though ,It’s not like there aren’t success stories coming out of New Mexico… Microsoft was founded in Albuquerque and Jeff Bezos grew up in Albuquerque.

Population: 2,109,366
Rank Last Year: 2 (Down 2)
Median Income: $54,020 (Fifth worst)
Poverty Level: 18.3% (Third worst)
Unemployment Rate: 6.6% (Fifth worst)
More On New Mexico: Photos | Rent

5. Alabama

Lots of people in Alabama are bro to the oke. Families here bring in about $46,000 as a household annually – earning about $1,000 less than the average household each month. And about 1 in 5 residents lives in poverty here.

Why is Alabama so poor? Like other states we’ve talked about so far, one side will say unregulated capitalism has created severe poverty here. Other sides will say Alabamans aren’t working hard enough – and can control their own financial fate.

We’re not going to take sides on this, but the poverty is alarming nonetheless. In many Alabama counties, it looks third world, where poverty rates reach 40%.

Alabama’s generational poverty is having an impact on the long term well being of its residents. Many of these poorest counties are also the fattest counties in the state, proof that cheap food is bad for us.

The United Nations usually does research on poverty across the world, but recently, visited parts of America to see how bad poverty is here. Their first stop? Alabama. Their report was quite compelling, and discussed conditions similar to what we see abroad.

You know who isn’t poor in Alabama? Their head coach. He made $11 million last year – more than any other public figure in the state. I guess you get what you pay for – Alabama has been winning national titles left and right lately.

Population: 4,997,675
Rank Last Year: 5 (No Change)
Median Income: $54,943 (Sixth worst)
Poverty Level: 15.8% (Seventh worst)
Unemployment Rate: 5.4% (20th worst)
More On Alabama: Photos | Rent

6. Arkansas

Next on our list of poorest states in America is #6 ranked Arkansas. Here in Arkansas, a lot of bank accounts are empty. The Natural State has an 16.0% poverty rate, and families bring in about $52,123 a year. We should note, here in Arkansas, smaller paychecks can be stretched much further than in other states, but it’s still tough times here.

Arkansas used to be pretty much the poorest place in the country, but they’re not as poor as before. Back in the 1940s, nearly half of all Arkies lived in poverty. So that’s good – economically, slowly, things are improving here. Of course not everyone grows up poor here. The Clintons are from Arkansas, and they’re certainly not broke. Sam Walton is totally loaded, too. He’s from Arkansas, and is the founder of Walmart.

Population: 3,006,309
Rank Last Year: 7 (Up 1)
Median Income: $52,123 (Third worst)
Poverty Level: 16.0% (Sixth worst)
Unemployment Rate: 5.3% (24th worst)
More On Arkansas: Photos | Rent

7. Kentucky

Kentucky residents earn the 5th lowest salaries in the nation – at $46k a year. And 1 in 5 Kentucky peeps lives in poverty. If there is a bright side here, at least the unemployment rate is about average. So there are opportunities here to get ahead here.

Just about every state has its haves and have nots. Here in Kentucky, the Bluegrass area that consists of Louisville, Lexington and Cincinnati suburbs are all doing just fine. Several large companies make their headquarters here.

But the rest of Kentucky is pretty broke. The coal mines of eastern and western Kentucky are in decline, as is the tobacco industry. Small towns outside of Kentucky’s urban areas are fading from importance – and 2 in 3 people in Kentucky lives in these boonies.

There’s ways you can get out of the poorhouse, Kentucky guy. People make like $50 a week giving blood, but you have to donate good blood. I don’t know if there’s more meth or mountain dew running through a Kentucky man’s veins.

If you’re living in Section 8 or Section 1, keep your head up, Kentucky. After all, This guy was poor and he ended up saving a whole kingdom. And HE was broke as hell, but he wound up being the star on a kid’s television show.

Yeah I’m proud to be a coal miner’s daughter.

Population: 4,494,141
Rank Last Year: 6 (Down 1)
Median Income: $55,454 (Seventh worst)
Poverty Level: 16.3% (Fifth worst)
Unemployment Rate: 5.3% (28th worst)
More On Kentucky: Photos | Rent

8. South Carolina

We’ve arrived in South Carolina, the 7th poorest state in America. We’ll grab something off the dollar menu cause that’s all we can afford tonight.

South Carolina peeps are straight strugglin. They have a poverty rate of 16.9%, households bringing in less than $50,000 annually, and 90% of working adults here live paycheck to paycheck.

In America, 75% of full-time workers live paycheck to paycheck. That’s a real big difference.

Many of the problems in SC stem from a lack of good genes. No that’s mean. The real issue here in South Carolina is complex. For instance, Rural South Carolina communities that rely heavily on agriculture are so broke that locals have dubbed the area the Corridor of Shame.

As we’ll see as we continue to move through this list, most of our poorest states are in the south. There are many theories as to why the south is so poor, but many economists agree that going back to Civil War days, the northern states invested in infrastructure and technology, while the south remained committed to farming. As a result, education fell behind, as did the southern economy.

But if you ask people in places like South Carolina if they ‘think’ they’re poor, many will likely tell you ‘no.’ On paper, they don’t have a lot, but a simple life with God, friends and family nearby is all they need.

Population: 5,078,903
Rank Last Year: 8 (No Change)
Median Income: $58,234 (Ninth worst)
Poverty Level: 14.5% (Ninth worst)
Unemployment Rate: 5.3% (23rd worst)
More On South Carolina: Photos | Rent

9. Nevada

Nevada is an interesting state. It ranks as the ninth poorest in the nation, but has varying levels of wealth across the state. Las Vegas and Reno are all filled with wealthy, successful people, but also have some high levels of income inequality. The rest of the state population is pretty poor and way underemployed relative to the rest of the country.

You could drive three hours and see completely different pockets of success in Nevada. The poverty level sits at 12.9%, while unemployment measures 7.12% — the worst in the country. People here work very, very hard, but due to the lack of thriving new technology, and a poor education system, it remains one of the poorer states in the nation.

On the brighter side, Nevada is quickly becoming one of the more progressive states in the country and there is a lot of freedom to do what you want as we all know from the Vegas commercials.

Population: 3,059,238
Rank Last Year: 15 (Up 6)
Median Income: $65,686 (24th worst)
Poverty Level: 12.9% (19th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 7.1% (First worst)
More On Nevada: Photos | Rent

10. Michigan

You probably didn’t expect to see Michigan on this list as it ranks the tenth poorest state in America. And it did, in fact, move up some spots from last year when it didn’t place in the top ten.

Michiganders earn the 18th-lowest incomes in America ($63,202), but they’re decently employed, proving that folks in the Wolverine State are hard workers. Plus, the cost of living is so low here, that even decent salaries go a long way. However, it seems cities like Detroit and Flint make national headlines for the wrong reasons nowadays and this ranking puts that into perspective.

While Michigan has some of the nicest, most generous people in the country, the fact is, it’s a relatively poor place.

Population: 10,062,512
Rank Last Year: 9 (Down 1)
Median Income: $63,202 (18th worst)
Poverty Level: 13.3% (17th worst)
Unemployment Rate: 6.2% (Tenth worst)
More On Michigan: Photos | Rent

Methodology: How We Determined The Poorest States in the US

The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.

However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the ‘poorest states’. So we looked at this set of criteria from the newly released 2017-2021 American Community Survey:

• Poverty level
• Unemployment rate
• Median income

The unemployment rate tries to capture the prospects for improvement in the city or town. If more people are employed, the brighter the future looks and vice versa.

We ranked each state from 1 to 50 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest. We then averaged all the rankings for a state into a ‘Poor Score’ with the state having the lowest overall Poor Score crowned the ‘Poorest State In The US For 2023’. You can download the data here.

If you’d like to see the complete list of states, from poorest to richest, scroll to the bottom of this post to see the unabridged chart.

Summary: The Poorest States In The Country

If you’re poor in America, there are heart warming rags to riches stories all over he place that you can use as inspiration. Slumdog Millionaire, Pretty Woman, heck even Annie. Most people are probably not going to get adopted by someone, but we’d be willing to bet if America’s poorest states changed their policies, their situations would follow suit.

If you’re curious enough, here are the richest states in the USA, according to science. Apparently, things are ‘all that’ when it comes to northeast America:

1. New Hampshire
2. Utah
3. Minnesota

For more reading, check out:

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• Richest States In America