From The Center Square
Florida residents living below the poverty line in 2017-18 made up 13.5 percent of the state’s population, the 12th highest rank among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to new Census Bureau data.
The state’s poverty rate was down 1 percentage point from the two-year average of 2015-16 (14.6 percent), the Census Bureau reported.
Nationwide, the median household income stood at $63,179 last year, which was unchanged from 2017, according to the analysis. But the U.S. poverty rate did tick down 0.5 percent from 2017 to 2018, to 11.8 percent, the study found.
Over the same time period, the median earnings of all American workers rose by 3.4 percent to $40,247, according to the Census Bureau.
The share of the U.S. population with health insurance in 2018, however, was 91.5 percent, compared to 92.1 percent a year earlier, the study says.
The Census Bureau’s 2018 numbers also showed that the national poverty rate had declined for the fourth year in a row.
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Poverty Rates by State
| State | 2015-2016 Average Poverty Rate | 2017-2018 Average Poverty Rate | Change in % From 2015-2016 to 2017-2018 | Rank Based on 2017-2018 Poverty Rate |
| Louisiana | 19.4 | 19.8 | 0.4 | 1 |
| Mississippi | 20.1 | 19.0 | -1.1 | 2 |
| New Mexico | 18.7 | 18.2 | -0.5 | 3 |
| West Virginia | 16.3 | 16.5 | 0.2 | 4 |
| Alabama | 16.3 | 15.6 | -0.6 | 5 |
| Arkansas | 16.1 | 15.4 | -0.7 | 6 |
| Kentucky | 17.4 | 14.6 | *-2.8 | 7 |
| District of Columbia | 16.5 | 14.3 | *-2.2 | 8 |
| North Carolina | 14.4 | 14.1 | -0.3 | 9 |
| Georgia | 16.8 | 14.0 | *-2.8 | 10 |
| South Carolina | 14.2 | 14.0 | -0.2 | 11 |
| Florida | 14.6 | 13.5 | -1.0 | 12 |
| Texas | 14.3 | 13.4 | -0.8 | 13 |
| Arizona | 16.6 | 13.2 | *-3.4 | 14 |
| Nevada | 11.5 | 13.1 | 1.5 | 15 |
| Oklahoma | 14.4 | 13.1 | -1.2 | 16 |
| Alaska | 10.9 | 12.6 | 1.7 | 17 |
| Ohio | 13.6 | 12.4 | -1.3 | 18 |
| California | 13.9 | 12.0 | *-1.9 | 19 |
| Maine | 12.5 | 12.0 | -0.5 | 20 |
| Missouri | 11.4 | 11.9 | 0.5 | 21 |
| New York | 13.1 | 11.9 | *-1.1 | 22 |
| Tennessee | 14.8 | 11.7 | *-3.1 | 23 |
| Indiana | 12.7 | 11.6 | -1.1 | 24 |
| Idaho | 11.7 | 11.5 | -0.2 | 25 |
| Pennsylvania | 11.7 | 11.4 | -0.4 | 26 |
| Wyoming | 10.3 | 11.2 | 0.9 | 27 |
| North Dakota | 10.9 | 11.1 | 0.2 | 28 |
| Michigan | 11.9 | 11.0 | -1.0 | 29 |
| Nebraska | 9.9 | 11.0 | 1.1 | 30 |
| Illinois | 11.5 | 10.9 | -0.6 | 31 |
| Kansas | 12.7 | 10.9 | -1.8 | 32 |
| South Dakota | 14.2 | 10.7 | *-3.5 | 33 |
| Oregon | 11.8 | 10.6 | -1.2 | 34 |
| Connecticut | 9.5 | 10.4 | 1.0 | 35 |
| Montana | 11.8 | 10.3 | *-1.5 | 36 |
| Rhode Island | 11.6 | 10.1 | -1.5 | 37 |
| Virginia | 11.1 | 10.1 | -1.0 | 38 |
| Massachusetts | 10.6 | 10.0 | -0.6 | 39 |
| Hawaii | 10.1 | 9.9 | -0.2 | 40 |
| Washington | 11.2 | 9.7 | -1.5 | 41 |
| Vermont | 10.2 | 9.2 | -1.0 | 42 |
| New Jersey | 10.3 | 9.1 | -1.2 | 43 |
| Colorado | 9.2 | 9.0 | -0.2 | 44 |
| Wisconsin | 11.1 | 8.9 | *-2.1 | 45 |
| Iowa | 10.1 | 8.2 | *-1.8 | 46 |
| Minnesota | 8.2 | 8.2 | 0.0 | 47 |
| Delaware | 11.3 | 8.1 | *-3.3 | 48 |
| Maryland | 8.4 | 7.8 | -0.6 | 49 |
| Utah | 8.9 | 7.8 | -1.1 | 50 |
| New Hampshire | 6.8 | 6.6 | -0.2 | 51 |
*estimated
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
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