47 states have poverty rates above pre-recession

Off the Charts - Poverty remained above pre-recession levels last year in 47 states plus the District of Columbia, our analysis of Census data shows.  In some states, the increase was substantial — in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, and Nevada, poverty rates were four to five percentage points higher in 2013 than in 2007.  The stubbornness of high poverty rates in the wake of the Great Recession underscores the need for states to do more to help working families make ends meet.

Poverty rates in the states not still above pre-recession levels, Alaska and the Dakotas, weren’t statistically different from 2007.