Cities With the Highest Poverty Rates

September 22, 2016 by Steven M. Peters

dirty city streets and old dirty houses, sadness, povertyThe number of Americans living in poverty fell by 3.5 million to 13.5% of the population in 2015. While the poverty rate is the lowest since 2008, it is still higher than pre-recession levels.

More than 43 million Americans still live in poverty. And while financial hardship exists in every city, some areas have much higher poverty rates than others.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed data from the U.S. Census Bureau to determine the cities with the highest poverty rates. The 56-city list consists of every U.S. metro area where more than one in five residents lives in poverty. The metro area with the highest poverty rate is Brownsville-Harlingen, Texas, with 32.4% of residents living below the poverty line.

Click here to see the cities with the highest poverty rates.

The income threshold that determines the poverty line for a family is determined by family size and composition. For example, the threshold for a family of four consisting of two adults and two children is $24,036 a year — if the household’s total income is below that threshold, it is considered to be living in poverty. For an individual younger than 65 years of age living alone, the poverty threshold drops to $12,331.

Due to many factors, including the pay gap between men and women, single mother households tend to have higher rates of poverty than other types of households. Nationwide, single mother families make up 6.8% of all families. In the most impoverished cities, single mother families are more common. In nine of the 10 cities with the highest poverty rates, the share of single mother households exceeds the national rate.

The poverty threshold does not account for factors like cost of living and is based on income levels before subsidies are received from government assistance programs like SNAP. Because it is cheaper to live in 54 of the 56 cities on this list than it is on average across the nation, the low incomes may be slightly more manageable. Programs like SNAP can provide further assistance by securing basic needs for low income individuals and families.

Yet, in many of these areas, there are a larger share of residents not only living in poverty, but living in extreme poverty. Nationwide, 4.3% of families earn less than $10,000 per year. In all but five of the 56 metros this percentage is higher, and in four cities, one in 10 families earns less than $10,000 annually.

To determine the cities with the highest poverty rates, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The national poverty rate is from the Current Population Survey, and data for metropolitan statistical areas is from the American Community Survey. Household and family composition figures are also from the ACS. Single mother family refers to a single, female householder raising her own children. All data from the Census Bureau is from 2015. Unemployment rates are from July 2016 and are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional price parities (cost of living) in each metro area came from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and are as of 2014. All data is as of the most recently available period.

These are the cities with the highest poverty rates.

El Paso, Texas 2

56. El Paso, TX
> Poverty rate: 20.1%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 4.9%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 22.0%
> Households with income under $10,000: 5.4%

Hot Springs, Arkansas 3

55. Hot Springs, AR
> Poverty rate: 20.1%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 4.2%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 10.4%
> Households with income under $10,000: 4.9%

Huntington, West Virginia

54. Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH
> Poverty rate: 20.1%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 5.8%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 18.0%
> Households with income under $10,000: 6.9%

Corvallis, Oregon

53. Corvallis, OR
> Poverty rate: 20.1%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 4.6%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 11.5%
> Households with income under $10,000: 3.7%

Pueblo riverwalk, Colorado

52. Pueblo, CO
> Poverty rate: 20.1%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 5.4%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 20.3%
> Households with income under $10,000: 7.6%

burlington-north-carolina

51. Burlington, NC
> Poverty rate: 20.1%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 4.3%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 17.0%
> Households with income under $10,000: 6.5%

Waco, Texas

50. Waco, TX
> Poverty rate: 20.3%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 3.9%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 11.6%
> Households with income under $10,000: 5.5%

City of Morgantown in West Virginia

49. Morgantown, WV
> Poverty rate: 20.3%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 4.3%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 10.0%
> Households with income under $10,000: 5.0%

harrisonburg-virginia

48. Harrisonburg, VA
> Poverty rate: 20.3%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 3.9%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 9.2%
> Households with income under $10,000: 5.4%

Medford, OR

47. Medford, OR
> Poverty rate: 20.3%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 6.6%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 23.0%
> Households with income under $10,000: 7.8%

johnson-city-tennessee

46. Johnson City, TN
> Poverty rate: 20.4%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 5.0%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 14.7%
> Households with income under $10,000: 7.4%

Yuma, Arizona

45. Yuma, AZ
> Poverty rate: 20.5%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 20.1%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 20.6%
> Households with income under $10,000: 6.7%

44. Fort Smith, AR-OK
> Poverty rate: 20.5%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 4.8%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 17.4%
> Households with income under $10,000: 7.0%

Flint, Michigan

43. Flint, MI
> Poverty rate: 20.6%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 4.4%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 20.7%
> Households with income under $10,000: 6.3%

yuba city california

42. Yuba City, CA
> Poverty rate: 20.6%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 9.4%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 15.0%
> Households with income under $10,000: 4.7%

Lubbock, Texas

41. Lubbock, TX
> Poverty rate: 20.7%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 3.4%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 12.5%
> Households with income under $10,000: 5.8%

Ames, Iowa

40. Ames, IA
> Poverty rate: 20.7%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 2.5%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 7.9%
> Households with income under $10,000: 1.4%

Manhattan, Kansas

39. Manhattan, KS
> Poverty rate: 20.8%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 3.3%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 6.3%
> Households with income under $10,000: 5.8%

Tuscaloosa, AL Train Bridge Reflections at Sunset

38. Tuscaloosa, AL
> Poverty rate: 21.0%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 5.5%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 11.3%
> Households with income under $10,000: 6.3%

Shreveport-Bossier City, LA

37. Shreveport-Bossier City, LA
> Poverty rate: 21.0%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 6.7%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 16.1%
> Households with income under $10,000: 6.7%

Columbus Georgia Downtown

36. Columbus, GA-AL
> Poverty rate: 21.1%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 6.0%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 19.0%
> Households with income under $10,000: 5.9%

lawrence kansas

35. Lawrence, KS
> Poverty rate: 21.3%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 3.6%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 6.9%
> Households with income under $10,000: 3.4%

Chico, California

34. Chico, CA
> Poverty rate: 21.8%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 6.9%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 11.9%
> Households with income under $10,000: 4.1%

Gainesville, GA

33. Gainesville, FL
> Poverty rate: 21.9%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 4.1%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 11.3%
> Households with income under $10,000: 5.1%

32. Auburn-Opelika, AL
> Poverty rate: 21.9%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 4.9%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 15.0%
> Households with income under $10,000: 6.7%

bakersfield heat

31. Bakersfield, CA
> Poverty rate: 21.9%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 10.6%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 16.4%
> Households with income under $10,000: 6.3%

Hinesville, Georgia

30. Hinesville, GA
> Poverty rate: 22.0%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 5.3%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 21.3%
> Households with income under $10,000: 6.1%

Alexandria, Louisiana

29. Alexandria, LA
> Poverty rate: 22.0%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 6.5%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 19.0%
> Households with income under $10,000: 6.5%

Rocky Mount, North Carolina

28. Rocky Mount, NC
> Poverty rate: 22.0%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 6.8%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 23.3%
> Households with income under $10,000: 5.4%

Ithaca, New York

27. Ithaca, NY
> Poverty rate: 22.3%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 3.5%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 6.8%
> Households with income under $10,000: 3.1%

Tallahassee, Florida

26. Tallahassee, FL
> Poverty rate: 22.4%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 4.5%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 16.0%
> Households with income under $10,000: 5.3%

Grants Pass, OR

25. Grants Pass, OR
> Poverty rate: 22.6%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 7.4%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 24.5%
> Households with income under $10,000: 4.5%

Albritton Bell Tower in Twilight, College Station, Texas

24. College Station-Bryan, TX
> Poverty rate: 23.0%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 3.5%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 8.1%
> Households with income under $10,000: 5.0%

Muncie, Indiana

23. Muncie, IN
> Poverty rate: 23.4%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 4.9%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 16.1%
> Households with income under $10,000: 8.6%

Madera, California

22. Madera, CA
> Poverty rate: 23.4%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 9.5%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 16.9%
> Households with income under $10,000: 6.6%

Hattiesburg, Mississippi

21. Hattiesburg, MS
> Poverty rate: 23.5%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 5.4%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 18.1%
> Households with income under $10,000: 8.1%

Hanford, California

20. Hanford-Corcoran, CA
> Poverty rate: 23.6%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 10.1%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 18.0%
> Households with income under $10,000: 5.8%

Macon, Georgia

19. Macon, GA
> Poverty rate: 23.7%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 5.3%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 18.2%
> Households with income under $10,000: 8.8%

Monroe, Louisiana

18. Monroe, LA
> Poverty rate: 23.9%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 6.2%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 16.5%
> Households with income under $10,000: 10.5%

Bloomington, Indiana

17. Bloomington, IN
> Poverty rate: 24.2%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 4.8%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 8.7%
> Households with income under $10,000: 5.2%

Albany, Georgia

16. Albany, GA
> Poverty rate: 24.6%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 5.8%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 23.2%
> Households with income under $10,000: 12.9%

Sebring, Florida

15. Sebring, FL
> Poverty rate: 24.6%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 6.2%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 14.8%
> Households with income under $10,000: 5.3%

Hammond, LA

14. Hammond, LA
> Poverty rate: 24.6%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 7.0%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 20.5%
> Households with income under $10,000: 6.7%

El Centro, California

13. El Centro, CA
> Poverty rate: 25.1%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 21.9%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 22.5%
> Households with income under $10,000: 8.1%

Fresno, California night

12. Fresno, CA
> Poverty rate: 25.3%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 9.6%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 21.0%
> Households with income under $10,000: 8.3%

Pocatello, Idaho

11. Pocatello, ID
> Poverty rate: 25.3%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 3.6%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 15.6%
> Households with income under $10,000: 4.7%

Pine Bluff, Arkansas

10. Pine Bluff, AR
> Poverty rate: 25.7%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 5.2%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 21.0%
> Households with income under $10,000: 10.0%

Valdosta, Georgia

9. Valdosta, GA
> Poverty rate: 26.6%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 4.9%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 18.1%
> Households with income under $10,000: 7.9%

Merced, California

8. Merced, CA
> Poverty rate: 26.7%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 10.7%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 21.5%
> Households with income under $10,000: 7.8%

Greenville, North Carolina

7. Greenville, NC
> Poverty rate: 26.8%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 5.0%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 17.2%
> Households with income under $10,000: 6.6%

Athens, Georgia

6. Athens-Clarke County, GA
> Poverty rate: 27.1%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 4.6%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 12.8%
> Households with income under $10,000: 7.0%


Las Cruces, New Mexico

5. Las Cruces, NM
> Poverty rate: 27.1%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 7.0%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 22.9%
> Households with income under $10,000: 7.7%

Visalia, California

4. Visalia-Porterville, CA
> Poverty rate: 27.6%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 11.2%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 24.4%
> Households with income under $10,000: 6.3%

Edinburg, Texas

3. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX
> Poverty rate: 31.5%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 7.7%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 30.2%
> Households with income under $10,000: 8.8%

Laredo, Texas

2. Laredo, TX
> Poverty rate: 31.8%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 4.9%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 32.3%
> Households with income under $10,000: 9.3%

brownsville heat

1. Brownsville-Harlingen, TX
> Poverty rate: 32.4%
> July 2016 unemployment rate: 7.2%
> Households receiving SNAP benefits: 26.5%
> Households with income under $10,000: 10.6%

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