The agency’s Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates report provides the only up-to-date poverty statistics for all of the nation's 13,157 school districts. In 2021, the county-level poverty rate for children ages 5 to 17 ranged from 2.4% to 61.1%. Here’s where each state ranks, from the highest level of student poverty to the lowest:

Lousiana: 25.9%
Mississippi: 25.7%
District of Columbia: 25.5%
New Mexico: 22.1%
Alabama: 21.6%
Arkansas: 20.1%
West Virginia: 20%
Kentucky: 19.9%
Georgia: 19.6%
Oklahoma: 19%
South Carolina: 18.8%
Texas: 18.6%
New York: 18.2%
Tennessee: 17.7%
Florida: 17.5%
Nevada: 17.5%
North Carolina: 17.2%
Ohio: 16.9%
Arizona: 16.7%
Michigan: 16.5%
Rhode Island: 16%
Pennsylvania: 15.5%
California: 15.4%
Missouri: 15.4%
Delaware: 15%
Illinois: 15%
Indiana: 14.6%
Montana: 13.6%
Maryland: 13.3%
New Jersey: 13.2%
South Dakota: 13.1%
Maine: 12.9%
Oregon: 12.9%
Wisconsin: 12.9%
Alaska: 12.9%
Virginia: 12.7%
Hawaii: 12.6%
Massachusetts: 12.3%
Connecticut: 12.2%
Kansas: 12.2%
Iowa: 11.6%
Washington: 11.2%
Idaho: 11.1%
Nebraska: 11.1%
Colorado: 10.9%
Wyoming: 10.7%
North Dakota: 10.5%
Vermont: 10.5%
Minnesota: 10.1%
New Hampshire: 8.8%
Utah: 7.6%

Instant Insights /

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