AP Wire

Louisiana’s poverty rate third in nation

by The Associated Press

Thank God (again) for Mississippi.

Nearly one in five Louisiana residents lived in poverty last year.

That's according to the latest U.S. Census data, released Thursday, which 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.

The Census Bureau estimates nearly 890,000 of Louisiana's 4.7 million residents lived below the federal poverty line last year, which was 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. The nation's lowest poverty rate was in New Hampshire, at 8.2 percent.