Each year as summer fades into fall, the United States Census Bureau releases its annual reports on poverty and income. Over at USDA they report on Hunger in America.
The numbers for Missouri easily qualify as interesting. The harsh reality is that even as poverty becomes a bit less common in the Show Me State, the typical Missouri household continues to slowly slip further behind much of the nation.
To complicate things, different census reports find different numbers for essentially the same thing. For example, the report Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in The United States 2016 [see census press release CB17-156] announces a national Median Household Income of $59,039 while the census American Community Survey released the same week shows a national Median Household Income for 2016 of $57,617.
I could explain why that happens but…it’s really not that important.
2016 Median Household Income
American Community Survey
United States $57,617
Missouri $51,746
This means the typical Missouri household has about $113 a week less income than the national number.
In 2015 Missouri was $109 below the national Median Household Income, meaning this state continues to slide further down the economic ladder.
Mississippi comes in last at $41,754 while Maryland leads with $78,945 for the Median Household Income in 2016.
www.census.gov/acs
2015 – 2016 Percentage of People In Poverty
Using Two Year Averaging
United States 13.1%
Missouri 11.4%
Missouri’s poverty rate dropped from 14% in 2013 – 2014, while the national rate declined from 14.8%. In simple terms, The Show Me state did a bit better than many states in decreasing the number of poor – more accurately, the number of poor surveyed. (Let’s not quibble.)
As might be expected, Mississippi leads this report with a poverty rate of 20.1%, a bit ahead of Louisiana with 19.4%. (The impact of Hurricane Katrina can still be seen in Louisiana’s numbers.) The smallest portion in poverty happens in New Hampshire with just 6.8% of citizens living in poverty.
www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/techdocs/cpsmart17.pdf
2016 Hunger In America
Very Low Food Security Food Insecurity
(Missed Meals – Hungry) (Struggling)
United States 5.2% 13.0%
Missouri 6.2% 14.2%
Actually, Missouri is looking better on this survey. In the 2016 report Missouri is only 15th worst of 51, an improvement from recent years where it was “worst 10” time in Very Low Food Security.
Here it is critical to remember that the range from 9th place to 15th is 2/10ths of 1%, easily within the survey’s margin of error.
Number 1 with a bullet is Louisiana at 7.7% hungry and Hawaii is in 51st at 3.0%.
Household Food Security in The United States in 2016 ERR-237
To summarize, the days when Missouri was ‘middle of America and middle in everything’ are gone. In critical categories, Missouri trends downwards.
Submitted by Glenn Koenen, WCD Member