# Is the West the poorest part of America? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 15, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-the-poorest-part-of-america/701429 "2014-10-15T19:34:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-the-poorest-part-of-america/701429/61 "2015-03-14T05:47:26Z")
The OP is actually partially right. If measured by the federal poverty line, which is simply a number, California doesn’t look so bad. But when you adjust for cost of living, California’s poverty rate is far higher than any other in the nation. Even Washington DC can’t compete. > **[List of U.S. states and territories by poverty rate](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_poverty_rate)** > > This list of U.S. states and territories by poverty rate covers the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the territory of Puerto Rico and their populations' poverty rate. The four other inhabited U.S. territories (American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) are listed separately. > The data source for the main list is the U.S. Census Bureau's five-year American Community Survey taken 2016 - 2020. The American Community Survey is a large demographic s... Of course places such as Malibu and Pacific Palisades are quite wealthy, but if you head west to places such as Pomona, Montclair, or Ontario, you’ll find poverty aplenty. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-the-poorest-part-of-america/701429/62 "2015-03-14T14:46:41Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > Of course places such as Malibu and Pacific Palisades are quite wealthy, but if you head west to places such as Pomona, Montclair, or Ontario, you’ll find poverty aplenty. If you head west from Malibu or Pacific Palisades, you’ll get wet. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-the-poorest-part-of-america/701429/63 "2015-03-14T15:32:27Z")
Heh, true enough obviously. I meant east. Growing up on the east coast, I always associated “west” with inland and “east” with the ocean. When I went to California for college, I don’t think my subconscious ever made the switch. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-the-poorest-part-of-america/701429/64 "2015-03-14T16:09:48Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Worse, oil prices are down by more than half over the last 8 months. Those oil boom towns in North Dakota (I have no clue where else you think they exist) are already starting to empty out and hundreds of thousands of jobs have already disappeared. It is true that a lot of people in those little plains towns are working the the oilfields, but they’re commuting hundreds and hundreds of miles working weeks on/off schedules. The reason why they have to do that is because the economy in those places is practically non-existent and so it’s one of the few ways to keep making a decent living while still living at home. ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2015, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-the-poorest-part-of-america/701429/65 "2015-03-14T17:28:16Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > The OP is actually partially right. If measured by the federal poverty line, which is simply a number, California doesn’t look so bad. But when you adjust for cost of living, California’s poverty rate is far higher than any other in the nation. Even Washington DC can’t compete. > > [List of U.S. states and territories by poverty rate - Wikipedia](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_poverty_rate) > > Of course places such as Malibu and Pacific Palisades are quite wealthy, but if you head west to places such as Pomona, Montclair, or Ontario, you’ll find poverty aplenty. Exactly. Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico are similarly poor, though I do wonder if a lot of it has to do with their Mexican immigrant population which naturally would be poorer than the mean. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-west-the-poorest-part-of-america/701429.md?page=3)