Money

Visualizing the Poverty Rate of Each U.S. State

Published

5 years ago

November 25, 2018

Jeff Desjardins

Visualizing the Poverty Rate of Each U.S. State

How many people live below the poverty line in states across the country?

Today’s interactive map comes to us from Overflow Solutions, and it visualizes the percentage of people living in poverty across the United States over the time period of 2008-2017.

U.S. Poverty Rates Today

To start, we’ll look at the situation using the most recent data, which was pulled from the American Community Survey (2017) done by the U.S. Census Bureau.

For additional context, it is worth noting that the national poverty level is estimated to sit at 13.4%.

Here are the five states with the highest levels of poverty today:

Rank	State	Poverty Rate (2017)
#1	Mississippi	19.8%
#2	Louisiana	19.7%
#3	New Mexico	19.7%
#4	West Virginia	19.1%
#5	Kentucky	17.2%

In three southern states, Mississippi, Louisiana, and New Mexico, nearly 20% of the population lives below the poverty line. Two Appalachian states round out the top five: West Virginia (19.1%) and Kentucky (17.2%).

On the flipside, here are the five states with the lowest levels of poverty:

Rank	State	Poverty Rate (2017)
#47	Connecticut	9.6%
#48 (t)	Minnesota	9.5%
#48 (t)	Hawaii	9.5%
#50	Maryland	9.3%
#51	New Hampshire	7.7%

New Hampshire (7.7%) has the lowest poverty rate by a long shot – about 1.6% lower than its closest competitor, which is the state of Maryland (9.3%).

Poverty Rates Over Time

While the data from 2017 provides an interesting snapshot, perhaps it is more insightful to look at the trend over time. In other words, are poverty rates increasing or decreasing?

Below is a comparison of state averages in 2008 (pre-crisis), 2012 (recent peak), and 2017:

	2008	2012	2017
Avg. state poverty rate	10.1%	15.2%	13.1%

Since the recent peak in 2012, poverty has decreased by an average of 2.1% per state – in fact, over the 2012-2017 time period, there were only three states that did not see a reduction in poverty levels: Alaska, Delaware, and West Virginia.

Using the longer time window, however, you’ll see that poverty rates have actually risen by 3.0% on average since 2008. Today, not a single state has a lower poverty rate than it did in 2008.

State Poverty Rates (All)

Finally, here’s a full state table that is sortable and searchable, showing poverty levels in 2008, 2012, and 2017, for your convenience:

	2008	2012	2017
Alabama	13.1%	19.0%	16.9%
Alaska	6.1%	10.1%	11.1%
Arizona	12.6%	18.7%	14.9%
Arkansas	14.6%	19.8%	16.4%
California	11.2%	17.0%	13.3%
Colorado	9.0%	13.7%	10.3%
Connecticut	7.0%	10.7%	9.6%
Delaware	7.6%	12.0%	13.6%
District of Columbia	15.4%	18.2%	16.6%
Florida	10.7%	17.1%	14.0%
Georgia	12.4%	19.2%	14.9%
Hawaii	5.8%	11.6%	9.5%
Idaho	9.9%	15.9%	12.8%
Illinois	10.0%	14.7%	12.6%
Indiana	10.6%	15.6%	13.5%
Iowa	7.9%	12.7%	10.7%
Kansas	8.4%	14.0%	11.9%
Kentucky	14.4%	19.4%	17.2%
Louisiana	14.8%	19.9%	19.7%
Maine	8.7%	14.7%	11.1%
Maryland	5.7%	10.3%	9.3%
Massachusetts	7.0%	11.9%	10.5%
Michigan	11.5%	17.4%	14.2%
Minnesota	6.5%	11.4%	9.5%
Mississippi	19.0%	24.2%	19.8%
Missouri	10.6%	16.2%	13.4%
Montana	11.5%	15.5%	12.5%
Nebraska	7.6%	13.0%	10.8%
Nevada	9.0%	16.4%	13.0%
New Hampshire	4.9%	10.0%	7.7%
New Jersey	6.7%	10.8%	10.0%
New Mexico	14.7%	20.8%	19.7%
New York	11.1%	15.9%	14.1%
North Carolina	12.0%	18.0%	14.7%
North Dakota	8.6%	11.2%	10.3%
Ohio	10.5%	16.3%	14.0%
Oklahoma	13.2%	17.2%	15.8%
Oregon	10.5%	17.2%	13.2%
Pennsylvania	9.2%	13.7%	12.5%
Rhode Island	8.3%	13.7%	11.6%
South Carolina	13.0%	18.3%	15.4%
South Dakota	9.7%	13.4%	13.0%
Tennessee	12.9%	17.9%	15.0%
Texas	14.1%	17.9%	14.7%
Utah	6.9%	12.8%	9.7%
Vermont	6.5%	11.8%	11.3%
Virginia	7.9%	11.7%	10.6%
Washington	8.4%	13.5%	11.0%
West Virginia	13.1%	17.8%	19.1%
Wisconsin	7.3%	13.2%	11.3%
Wyoming	6.1%	12.6%	11.3%

Related Topics:wealth united states state economy poverty

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Money

How Debt-to-GDP Ratios Have Changed Since 2000

See how much the debt-to-GDP ratios of advanced economies have grown (or shrank) since the year 2000.

Published

17 hours ago

April 18, 2024

Marcus Lu

How Debt-to-GDP Ratios Have Changed Since 2000

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on Apple or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Government debt levels have grown in most parts of the world since the 2008 financial crisis, and even more so after the COVID-19 pandemic.

To gain perspective on this long-term trend, we’ve visualized the debt-to-GDP ratios of advanced economies, as of 2000 and 2024 (estimated). All figures were sourced from the IMF’s World Economic Outlook.

Data and Highlights

The data we used to create this graphic is listed in the table below. “Government gross debt” consists of all liabilities that require payment(s) of interest and/or principal in the future.

Country	2000 (%)	2024 (%)	Change (pp)
🇯🇵 Japan	135.6	251.9	+116.3
🇸🇬 Singapore	82.3	168.3	+86.0
🇺🇸 United States	55.6	126.9	+71.3
🇬🇧 United Kingdom	36.6	105.9	+69.3
🇬🇷 Greece	104.9	160.2	+55.3
🇫🇷 France	58.9	110.5	+51.6
🇵🇹 Portugal	54.2	104.0	+49.8
🇪🇸 Spain	57.8	104.7	+46.9
🇸🇮 Slovenia	25.9	66.5	+40.6
🇫🇮 Finland	42.4	76.5	+34.1
🇭🇷 Croatia	35.4	61.8	+26.4
🇨🇦 Canada	80.4	103.3	+22.9
🇨🇾 Cyprus	56.0	70.9	+14.9
🇦🇹 Austria	65.7	74.0	+8.3
🇸🇰 Slovak Republic	50.5	56.5	+6.0
🇩🇪 Germany	59.3	64.0	+4.7
🇧🇪 Belgium	109.6	106.8	-2.8
🇮🇱 Israel	77.4	56.8	-20.6
🇮🇸 Iceland	75.8	54.6	-21.2

The debt-to-GDP ratio indicates how much a country owes compared to the size of its economy, reflecting its ability to manage and repay debts. Percentage point (pp) changes shown above indicate the increase or decrease of these ratios.

Countries with the Biggest Increases

Japan (+116 pp), Singapore (+86 pp), and the U.S. (+71 pp) have grown their debt as a percentage of GDP the most since the year 2000.

All three of these countries have stable, well-developed economies, so it’s unlikely that any of them will default on their growing debts. With that said, higher government debt leads to increased interest payments, which in turn can diminish available funds for future government budgets.

This is a rising issue in the U.S., where annual interest payments on the national debt have surpassed $1 trillion for the first time ever.

Only 3 Countries Saw Declines

Among this list of advanced economies, Belgium (-2.8 pp), Iceland (-21.2 pp), and Israel (-20.6 pp) were the only countries that decreased their debt-to-GDP ratio since the year 2000.

According to Fitch Ratings, Iceland’s debt ratio has decreased due to strong GDP growth and the use of its cash deposits to pay down upcoming maturities.