Louisiana's poverty rate is not getting better. One out of five Louisiana residents lived in poverty last year.

New Census numbers released this week shows little change in Louisiana's poverty rate from 2014 to 2015.

Louisiana had the third-highest rate of poverty in the country for 2015, at 19.6 percent, falling behind only Mississippi and New Mexico. Louisiana's rate was barely changed, from 19.8 percent a year earlier.

Louisiana has 4.7 million residents and 890,000 of those folks live below the federal poverty line, which is about $24,000 for a family of four.

Mississippi's poverty rate was at 22 percent, and New Mexico's was 20.4 percent. For the same period, the national poverty rate was 14.7 percent.  Alabama, Arkansas and Kentucky were also near the bottom. The nation's lowest poverty rate was in New Hampshire, at 8.2 percent. Other states near the top of the list: Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey and Vermont.

 

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