Housing costs make Calif. the poorest state
By Matt Levin, San Francisco Chronicle
A sign advertising apartments for rent is displayed in front of an apartment complex in San Francisco.
California leads the nation once again in a statistic no state wants to boast about. When the cost of living is factored in, the Golden State has the highest poverty rate in the country.
More than 20 percent of its residents struggle to make ends meet, according to recently released census figures. That’s nearly 8 million people.
Unfortunately for Californians, this year’s poverty numbers are not an aberration. The census began releasing state-by-state results for its “supplemental poverty measure” in 2011, in an attempt to improve upon the outdated and heavily criticized official poverty statistics.