The Surprising Truth About Poverty In California

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – California has the fifth largest economy in the world and an unemployment rate near four percent, but about four in 10 Californians are living either below the poverty line or just above it. More surprisingly, new data from the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) shows the worst poverty in the Golden State isn't where you would think it is. It turns out, the outdated idea that California's poorest are located in the rural parts of the state are far from true.

The counties with the highest poverty rates are Los Angeles (24.3 percent), Santa Cruz (23.8 percent), and Santa Barbara (23 percent), according to the data. By using the California Poverty Measure (CPM), which includes cost of living and the value of social safety net programs, 7.4 million Californians (19.4 percent) currently live in poverty, KQED reported.

Although the absolute poorest Californians live in more urban areas, the poverty rates in more rural settings aren't exactly low – Tulare County's poverty rate is 20.3 percent, while Fresno County's is 19.6 percent, according to the data.

"The picture of poverty is quite different than what you might expect based on the 1960s-era official poverty estimates," PPIC researcher Sarah Bohn told KQED. "It tends to be higher on the coast, and some of that's driven by the high cost of living, but also by the fact that in some of those places families are working and less eligible for social safety net programs that boost their income."

The counties with the lowest poverty rates are Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono and Tuolumne counties, which have a combined poverty rate of 13.4 percent, according to the PPIC.

The data also reveals that without social safety net programs, more Californians would live in poverty. The largest social safety net programs – including CalFresh, CalWORKS, the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and more – kept an estimated 7.8 percent of Californians out of poverty in 2016.

However, the effect of these safety net programs vary from region to region. Safety net programs reduce poverty much more in inland areas, according to PPIC. If those resources were subtracted from family budgets, there would be a 13.9 percent increase in poverty in the Central Valley and Sierra, but only a four percent increase in poverty in the Bay Area.

Yes, most poor families in California are working. In 2016, 79.5 percent of poor Californians lived in families with at least one working adult (excluding families of only adults age 65 or older). For 41.6 percent of those in poverty, at least one family member reported working full time for the entire year, and 33.4 percent had someone in the family working part time or for part of the year, the data showed.

To read more about poverty in California, check out the data here.

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