The poorest U.S. state is Mississippi. In 2022, the median household income there was $48,610, significantly below the national average of $74,580. Mississippi had the highest poverty rate in the country in 2023—18.7% of the population lived below the poverty line. The unemployment rate that year was 3.2%, masking the true difficulties of daily life. A relatively large portion of households live in extremely poor conditions. About 8% of Mississippi’s population lived in extreme poverty, compared to the national average of 5%. Other poor states include Louisiana (17.8%), New Mexico (16.8%), West Virginia (15.8%), Arkansas (15.2%), and Alabama (14.9%).
The Problem of Homelessness
“It’s hard to imagine that a country which controls so much nuclear firepower and drops so many bombs every day is unwilling to educate its children and house its people. The poor have been with us since ‘we’ existed. And as much as I’d love to see zero poverty in the United States—a country that spends trillions on its domestic and international security apparatus—I know there is no political will today for such policies,” wrote Cynthia McKinney, a former long-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives, in 2016 in her commentary on homelessness in America. And she hit the core of the problem.
It is difficult to estimate the exact number of homeless people in America, but according to official figures, in January 2024, there were 770,000 homeless individuals. This is the highest number of homeless recorded in the past few decades, with the growth trend particularly evident in large cities such as Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco. The main causes of homelessness include rising housing costs, lack of affordable housing, mental illness and addiction, and inadequate social policies. Although support programs exist, such as shelters and housing subsidies, many homeless people still lack both shelter and income.
Programs to Fight Poverty
There are federal government programs in the U.S. focused on fighting poverty and food insecurity. For poor children, there is the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), which offers free or subsidized meals to schoolchildren nationwide. In the 2023 fiscal year, the program provided 4.6 billion lunches at a total cost of $17.2 billion. Since the NSLP was established in 1946, over 224 billion meals have been served to children.
Over 66% of food-insecure households participated in one or more of the three largest federal food assistance programs in 2023. The most important of these is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps. This federal aid program helps low-income individuals and families buy food. Participants receive monthly subsidies via electronic cards that can be used to purchase groceries in stores. The program is essential in combating poverty and malnutrition by providing access to basic food items. In 2021, more than 41 million Americans used SNAP, while the number dropped to 34 million in 2022. About 44% of participants are families with children. Over a quarter are elderly or disabled individuals. The average SNAP user receives around $250 per month. The WIC program provides nutritional assistance, counseling, and education to ensure the health of pregnant women, infants, and children from low-income families. In addition to offering free or subsidized food, the program also promotes education on healthy eating, breastfeeding, and overall well-being.
Minimum Wages
The U.S. federal government (along with some individual states) has established a minimum wage to ensure a decent standard of living for workers and prevent poverty. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour and has not changed since 2009. Today, more than 30 states have minimum wages higher than the federal level. Some states, such as California ($16.50), New York ($15), and Washington D.C. ($17.50), have significantly higher minimum wages. Additionally, many cities have their own higher minimum wages. However, current minimum wages are still far from ideal, and they are not enough to support a family, so an increase is needed in the future. Tens of millions of Americans today earn less than workers did in the 1950s and 60s—in those decades, private sector workers earned an average of $9.08 per hour (adjusted for inflation).
Conclusion
The massive problem of 37 million poor Americans cannot be solved overnight, even though Donald Trump has expressed the intention to raise the American standard of living. There are many potential solutions to overcoming poverty, but this challenge should not be tackled individually—it requires a broader package. The best solution would be significant structural economic reforms that prioritize the welfare and prosperity of average workers over corporate profits. This doesn’t mean introducing socialism in America, but rather improving American capitalism by giving it a “human face”—a quality it increasingly lacks, making the American Dream seem lost.
Author: Matija Šerić
Featured image: www.publicdomainpictures.net
