Money
Visualizing the Poverty Rate of Each U.S. State
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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% |
Money
How Small Investments Make a Big Impact Over Time
Compound interest is a powerful force in building wealth. Here’s how it impacts even the most modest portfolio over the long term.
How Small Investments Make a Big Impact Over Time
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Time is an investor’s biggest ally, even if they start with just a modest portfolio.
The reason behind this is compounding interest, of course, thanks to its ability to magnify returns as interest earns interest on itself. With a fortune of $159 billion, Warren Buffett largely credits compound interest as a vital ingredient to his success—describing it like a snowball collecting snow as it rolls down a very long hill.
This graphic shows how compound interest can dramatically impact the value of an investor’s portfolio over longer periods of time, based on data from Investor.gov.
Why Compound Interest is a Powerful Force
Below, we show how investing $100 each month, with a 10% annual return starting at the age of 25 can generate outsized returns by simply staying the course:
Age | Total Contributions | Interest | Portfolio Value |
---|---|---|---|
25 | $1,300 | $10 | $1,310 |
30 | $7,300 | $2,136 | $9,436 |
35 | $13,300 | $9,223 | $22,523 |
40 | $19,300 | $24,299 | $43,599 |
45 | $25,300 | $52,243 | $77,543 |
50 | $31,300 | $100,910 | $132,210 |
55 | $37,300 | $182,952 | $220,252 |
60 | $43,300 | $318,743 | $362,043 |
65 | $49,300 | $541,101 | $590,401 |
70 | $55,300 | $902,872 | $958,172 |
75 | $61,300 | $1,489,172 | $1,550,472 |
Portfolio value is at end of each time period. All time periods are five years except for the first year (Age 25) which includes a $100 initial contribution. Interest is computed annually.
As we can see, the portfolio grows at a relatively slow pace over the first five years.
But as the portfolio continues to grow, the interest earned begins to exceed the contributions in under 15 years. That’s because interest is earned not only on the total contributions but on the accumulated interest itself. So by the age of 40, the total contributions are valued at $19,300 while the interest earned soars to $24,299.
Not only that, the interest earned soars to double the value of the investor’s contributions over the next five years—reaching $52,243 compared to the $25,300 in principal.
By the time the investor is 75, the power of compound interest becomes even more eye-opening. While the investor’s lifetime contributions totaled $61,300, the interest earned ballooned to 25 times that value, reaching $1,489,172.
In this way, it shows that investing consistently over time can benefit investors who stick it through stock market ups and downs.
The Two Key Ingredients to Growing Money
Generally speaking, building wealth involves two key pillars: time and rate of return.
Below, we show how these key factors can impact portfolios based on varying time horizons using a hypothetical example. Importantly, just a small difference in returns can make a huge impact on a portfolio’s end value:
Annual Return | Portfolio Value 25 Year Investment Horizon | Portfolio Value 75 Year Investment Horizon |
---|---|---|
5% | $57,611 | $911,868 |
8% | $88,412 | $4,835,188 |
12% | $161,701 | $49,611,684 |
With this in mind, it’s important to take into account investment fees which can erode the value of your investments.
Even the difference of 1% in investment fees adds up over time, especially over the long run. Say an investor paid 1% in fees, and had an after-fee return of 9%. If they had a $100 starting investment, contributed monthly over a 25-year time span, their portfolio would be worth over $102,000 at the end of the period.
By comparison, a 10% return would have made over $119,000. In other words, they lost roughly $17,000 on their investment because of fees.
Another important factor to keep in mind is inflation. In order to preserve the value of your portfolio, its important to choose investments that beat inflation, which has historically averaged around 3.3%.
For perspective, since 1974 the S&P 500 has returned 12.5% on average annually (including reinvested dividends), 10-Year U.S. Treasury bonds have returned 6.6%, while real estate has averaged 5.6%. As we can see, each of these have outperformed inflation over longer horizons, with varying degrees of risk and return.
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