Poverty in California remains highest in US, tied with Louisiana, report says | California

A new report shows that California has the highest poverty rate in the United States, alongside Louisiana, and rates have shown little improvement.

Despite the abundant wealth in the state – more billionaires live in California than everywhere else in the United States – in 2024, around 7 million people, or 17.7% of residents, could not afford to cover their basic needs. In 2021, California’s poverty rate reached a historic hollow of 11%, but as the Pandemic era policies ended, rates increased in the state and the United States, according to the California budget and Policy Center report published last week.

The non -profit organization of research and analysis revealed that poverty rates in California have remained “statistically unchanged” from the 2023 levels and that people of color, tenants and children were among the most affected. The poverty of children in the state has more than doubled since 2021.

“These figures reflect a disturbing trend that started with the decline in historical anti-pale investments that have been created to mitigate the damage of the COVVI-19 pandemic-stressing that poverty is a choice of policy,” said the report, adding that policies such as federal credit on the children’s tax have been associated with a historical drop in the cover.

“When the congress has enabled these effective policies to expire, they immediately reversed progress, causing the highest increase in the national poverty rate in 50 years and a significant increase in the rate of poverty in California.”

California made significant investments during the pandemic and promulgated temporary economic protections for residents, in particular by providing motel rooms to non -Lodi people, an expulsion moratorium and rental assistance. But poverty in the state has increased while these programs ended.

Now, reductions in federal and state levels should lead to an increase in poverty rates, the report said. The authors highlight the federal budget of Donald Trump, signed earlier this year, which will reduce health care, food assistance and other support for millions of people, as well as a state budget which includes “important reductions” of health care. Experts have warned that Trump’s budget will have a major impact on the country’s social security net and described it as the “highest bill that we have ever known since budget deficits have become a problem 40 years ago”.

The report calls for a “daring action” of state leaders, in particular by implementing a tax rate of graduated companies and ending certain corporate tax reductions, among other recommendations.

“For California to be a state for all the most to prosper – regardless of the race or ethnicity, sex and other identities – the heads of state should take daring measures to alleviate the increase in poverty and present a different vision of California that the federal government has presented in recent months,” said the report.