California’s soaring living costs push its poverty rate among the nation’s highest

California’s official poverty rate remains at 10.7%, identical to the national average, but the Census Bureau’s supplemental poverty measure, which accounts for local cost of living, climbs to 17.8%, only slightly below Louisiana’s 19.8% after that state surged ahead. The supplemental rate reflects the state’s steep housing, utility and transportation costs rather than widespread low wages. Independent calculations by the Public Policy Institute of California and Stanford’s Center on Poverty and Inequality arrive at similar figures and break down poverty by county, also identifying a “near-poor” segment of families earning up to 150% of the poverty line.

Together, the poor and near-poor represent roughly 35% of Californians, matching the 13.9 million people enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state’s $222 billion health-care program for low-income residents. Officials argue that only a reduction in living expenses or the creation of higher-paying jobs can meaningfully lower the rate, as fiscal capacity to eradicate poverty is limited.