California Poverty Statistics | EPIC | End Poverty in California (2024)

Poverty Profile

California has the highest rate of poverty at 13.2% of any state in the U.S. (3-year average, 2020-22) ¹

An average of 5,142,000 Californians lived in poverty from 2020-22, larger than the total population of 27 individual states ^1,22

16.9% of Latinos in California lived in poverty in early 2023. ²

13.6% of African Americans in California lived in poverty in early 2023. ²

11.5% of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in California lived in poverty in early 2023. ²

10.2% of whites lived in poverty in early 2023. ²

22% of people with disabilities in California lived in poverty in 2021. ⁴

31.1% of all California residents were poor or near poor in early 2023. ²

Poverty and Immigration

17.6% of immigrant Californians lived in poverty in early 2023. ²

29.6% of undocumented immigrant Californians lived in poverty in early 2023. ²

11.5% of U.S.-born California residents lived in poverty in early 2023. ²

Child Poverty

13.8% of children in California lived in poverty in early 2023. ²

Fact: An estimated 613,000 kids in California would have been lifted out of poverty if Congress had made the expanded Child Tax Credit permanent. ⁵

Poverty and Education

6.4% of college graduates ages 25–64 in California lived in poverty in early 2023.²

22.3% of adults ages 25–64 without a high school diploma in California lived in poverty in early 2023.²

Senior Poverty

15.2% of seniors in California lived in poverty in early 2023. ²

Poverty and Work

Nearly 76% of poor Californians lived in families with at least one working adult in early 2023. ²

48.3% of those in poverty had at least one family member working full time for the entire year. ²

32.2% had a family member who worked part time and/or part of the year. ²

Hunger

Over 4.1 million Californians, including 1 in 10 people, and 1 in 7 children, face hunger. ⁶

Housing and Homelessness

An estimated 171,000 Californians were experiencing homelessness as of early 2022. ⁷

California has only 32 affordable housing units for every 100 renter households, and only 24 for every 100 renters with extremely low incomes. For the latter there is a shortage of nearly 1 million units. ⁸

Fact: If housing costs had remained steady since 2013, 800,000 fewer Californians would be in poverty. ⁹

The Safety Net

In early 2023, an estimated 3.2 million more Californians would have been in poverty without safety net programs, including the EITC and CTC, CalFresh, housing subsidies, and Supplemental Security Income. ²

Without existing safety net programs, California’s poverty rate would have been 8.4% higher in early 2023, and 14.9% higher for children. ²

Without the safety net in early 2023, poverty would be 14.4 points higher in the Central Valley and Sierra; 4.3 points higher in the Bay area. ²

Incarceration

Black Californians constitute 5% of the state’s total population, but 28% of California’s incarcerated population. ¹⁰

Roughly 199,000 people are incarcerated in California. ¹⁰

Income and Wealth Inequality

186 billionaires live in California — more than any other state in the U.S., and more than any other country outside of the U.S. and China. ^{11, 12}

California is the fifth largest economy in the world when measuring GDP, yet nearly 3 out of 10 Californians are living below or near the poverty line. ^{2, 16}

The gap between high- and low-income families in California is among the largest in the nation—exceeding all but three other states in 2021.¹⁸

Black and Latino families make up 12% of those with incomes above the 90th percentile, despite comprising 44% of all families in California; they also comprise 56% of the lowest-income families. ¹⁸

20% of all net worth is concentrated in the 30 wealthiest zip codes, home to just 2% of Californians. ¹⁸

For every $1 that white families earn, Black families earn $0.60 and Latino families earn $0.52. ¹⁸

Nationwide, the typical (median-wealth) white family has more than six times the wealth of a typical African American and five times more than the typical Latino family. ¹⁹

Latinas earned 51 cents for every dollar earned by non-Hispanic white men in California. Latinas with a bachelor’s degree earned even less: 42 cents for every dollar earned by non-Hispanic white men with a similar level of education. ²⁰

In California, for every $1 made by a white male, a Black female makes $0.54 (about two cents more per hour than in Mississippi, and about the same as in South Carolina, both of which have significantly lower costs of living). ²¹

Sources

1. U.S. Census Bureau 2022 Supplemental Poverty Measure
2. Public Policy Institute of California: Poverty in California
3. Stanford Center for Poverty and Inequality
4. American Community Survey (U.S. Census Bureau)
5. Urban Institute
6. Feeding America
7. California Budget & Policy Center
8. National Low Income Housing Coalition
9. Public Policy Institute of California: California’s High Housing Costs Increase Poverty
10. Prison Policy Initiative
11. World Population Review
12. LA Times
13. The Orange County Register
14. Bureau of Economic Analysis
15. World Population Review
16. California Budget & Policy Center
17. Cal Matters: California’s racial inequality: What can state do with $31 billion?
18. Public Policy Institute of California: Income Inequality in California
19. CNN
20. UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute
21. Institute for Women’s Policy Research
22. U.S. Census Bureau State Population Totals, 2020-2022