The new measure, dubbed the "Supplemental Poverty Measure" revised the California's poverty rate from 16.3 percent up to 23.5 percent
The Golden State has reached a poverty rate that is now twice as bad as West Virginia’s and substantially worse than the rates of poverty in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas, according to a new measure of poverty developed by the federal Census Bureau.
Democrat-run California earned its last-place rank under the federal government’s new measure of poverty, which incorporates more detailed analyses of welfare payments and the local costs of food, gasoline and housing. (View the new census data report)
The state’s costs are boosted by its environmental and workplace regulations, and by 38 million residents’ competition for housing close to the sea.
The new measure, however, also incorporates a controversial calculation of relative equality that demotes states, including California, that have wide gaps between wealthy people and people with less than one-third of state residents’ average income.
Read more: Daily Caller
