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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Brooke Armour [mailto:[email protected]]

September 9, 2025 (916) 553-4093

California’s Supplemental Poverty Rate

Hits 6-Year High

Remains highest in the nation, tied with Louisiana

(SACRAMENTO)—In what should be a wake-up to California policymakers, data released today from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that once again, California has the highest supplemental poverty rate in the nation, tying with Louisiana at 17.7% in 2024. Even more troubling, California’s supplemental poverty rate increased by more than 2 percentage points since last year, reaching a six-year high.

“The supplemental poverty rate measures the impact that high taxes and high housing costs have on California families. Today’s data shows that 17.7% of Californians live in poverty when the cost-of-living is factored in. That’s not just the highest in the nation, it’s the highest rate in California in the last six years, increasing from 15.4 percent last year,” said Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable.

California’s Official Poverty Measure was 11.2%, just barely above the national average of 11.1%. However, when high housing costs—which include the growing costs from high energy prices Californians see every month in their utility bills—and some of the highest taxes in the nation are taken into account, California’s poverty rate jumps to 17.7%, far above the national supplemental poverty rate of 12.7%.

“California has by far the largest difference in our official poverty rate and our supplemental rate. Because this measure accounts for both high housing costs and tax rates and the income effects of social program spending, today’s release once again demonstrates that the state’s focus of trying to mitigate policy-driven cost burdens with increased public spending is no substitute for tackling directly the state policies that have led to these high costs. While policymakers declared it the 'Year of Affordability,' this session is concluding with few policies to address the cost-of-living crisis that this data proves so many California families are facing,” Lapsley concluded.

California Business Roundtable

1121 L Street, Suite 510 Sacramento, CA 95814

916.553.4093

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