2023 Annual Disability Statistics Compendium | Annual Disability Statistics Compendium

Section 6: Poverty

This section presents statistics on poverty in the United States. The statistics describe the number and percentage of people with and without disabilities who experience poverty as well as the difference between the poverty rates of people with and without disabilities (poverty gap). The principal source of these data is the American Community Survey. For these tables, statistics for people with disabilities (disability status) are based on having responded ‘yes’ to a series of questions within the American Community Survey (see the glossary for details). Poverty is defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and set as a dollar threshold by the U.S. Census Bureau (see the glossary for details).

Tables

Tables 6.1 and 6.2: In 2021, of the 21,375,164 individuals with disabilities ages 18-64 years who were living in the community, 5,420,980 individuals lived in poverty—a poverty rate of 25.4 percent. In contrast, of the 177,527,241 individuals without disabilities ages 18-64 years living in the community, 21,009,430 individuals lived in poverty—a poverty rate of 11.8 percent. The poverty rate for people with disabilities was highest in the District of Columbia (37.8 percent) and lowest in New Hampshire (18.6 percent).

Table 6.3: In 2021, the poverty rate of individuals with disabilities ages 18-64 years living in the community was 25.4 percent, while the poverty rate of individuals without disabilities ages 18-64 years living in the community was 11.8 percent—a difference of 13.6 percentage points. The poverty gap was smallest in Idaho (a difference of 8.4 percentage points) and greatest in Maine (a difference of 23.2 percentage points).

State	Total	Poverty		State	Total	Poverty
Table 6.1 Poverty — Civilians with Disabilities Ages 18-64 Years Living in the Community for the United States and States: 2021
State	Total	Count	%	State	Total	Count	%
U.S.	21,375,164	5,420,980	25.4	MO	455,483	126,640	27.8
AL	427,044	117,608	27.5	MT	75,444	19,276	25.6
AK	57,446	13,785	24.0	NE	127,695	27,349	21.4
AZ	462,266	101,643	22.0	NV	203,594	50,241	24.7
AR	270,410	75,911	28.1	NH	86,205	16,022	18.6
CA	2,094,680	470,724	22.5	NJ	442,236	95,270	21.5
CO	334,153	64,675	19.4	NM	172,088	54,792	31.8
CT	210,733	50,433	23.9	NY	1,137,516	330,786	29.1
DE	63,108	13,653	21.6	NC	721,213	176,724	24.5
DC	45,567	17,222	37.8	ND	47,057	10,371	22.0
FL	1,294,357	304,721	23.5	OH	844,365	240,989	28.5
GA	718,796	174,123	24.2	OK	355,773	95,550	26.9
HI	70,655	20,003	28.3	OR	337,722	90,697	26.9
ID	129,963	24,273	18.7	PA	862,692	237,259	27.5
IL	738,699	187,135	25.3	RI	79,542	18,802	23.6
IN	475,999	120,215	25.3	SC	371,131	96,339	26.0
IA	200,714	57,854	28.8	SD	54,749	16,383	29.9
KS	201,587	56,306	27.9	TN	536,506	151,658	28.3
KY	425,527	138,531	32.6	TX	1,812,286	403,925	22.3
LA	382,524	120,020	31.4	UT	194,928	38,294	19.6
ME	111,109	37,853	34.1	VT	44,065	15,631	35.5
MD	347,449	82,539	23.8	VA	525,816	118,857	22.6
MA	390,447	102,885	26.4	WA	515,893	121,811	23.6
MI	717,556	188,470	26.3	WV	171,095	53,491	31.3
MN	346,254	80,760	23.3	WI	361,742	97,088	26.8
MS	283,513	87,026	30.7	WY	37,772	8,367	22.2
Citation: Paul, S., Rogers, S., Bach, S., & Houtenville, A. (2023). Annual Disability Statistics Compendium: 2023 (Table 6.1). Durham, NH: University of New Hampshire, Institute on Disability. Note: Authors’ calculations using the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, Public Use Microdata Sample, 2021, which is subject to sampling variation.

State	Total	Poverty		State	Total	Poverty
Table 6.2 Poverty — Civilians without Disabilities Ages 18-64 Years Living in the Community for the United States and States: 2021
State	Total	Count	%	State	Total	Count	%
U.S.	177,527,241	21,009,430	11.8	MO	3,177,937	370,852	11.7
AL	2,547,331	367,778	14.4	MT	564,962	64,914	11.5
AK	370,838	33,653	9.1	NE	1,014,311	108,560	10.7
AZ	3,777,370	457,898	12.1	NV	1,690,271	205,887	12.2
AR	1,491,911	214,436	14.4	NH	770,904	59,707	7.7
CA	22,007,153	2,480,168	11.3	NJ	5,176,776	476,003	9.2
CO	3,274,242	318,690	9.7	NM	1,047,810	180,943	17.3
CT	1,991,370	207,891	10.4	NY	10,983,027	1,432,571	13.0
DE	520,770	59,928	11.5	NC	5,562,607	725,055	13.0
DC	404,964	69,093	17.1	ND	408,160	46,288	11.3
FL	11,356,405	1,358,578	12.0	OH	6,129,834	737,192	12.0
GA	5,805,086	738,519	12.7	OK	1,962,381	274,575	14.0
HI	729,300	75,941	10.4	OR	2,232,682	264,638	11.9
ID	971,484	100,070	10.3	PA	6,848,016	773,287	11.3
IL	6,917,512	762,258	11.0	RI	600,499	78,618	13.1
IN	3,564,936	416,259	11.7	SC	2,671,976	384,092	14.4
IA	1,668,525	195,198	11.7	SD	453,506	57,363	12.6
KS	1,507,357	174,964	11.6	TN	3,641,442	452,364	12.4
KY	2,242,246	325,631	14.5	TX	15,981,386	1,990,079	12.5
LA	2,309,022	399,106	17.3	UT	1,789,229	151,403	8.5
ME	709,211	77,357	10.9	VT	348,202	45,247	13.0
MD	3,371,887	313,337	9.3	VA	4,629,055	474,910	10.3
MA	3,981,891	460,415	11.6	WA	4,199,025	392,243	9.3
MI	5,301,641	647,265	12.2	WV	863,113	143,242	16.6
MN	3,065,749	261,593	8.5	WI	3,165,531	327,884	10.4
MS	1,426,633	239,182	16.8	WY	299,765	36,305	12.1
Citation: Paul, S., Rogers, S., Bach, S., & Houtenville, A. (2023). Annual Disability Statistics Compendium: 2023 (Table 6.2). Durham, NH: University of New Hampshire, Institute on Disability. Note: Authors’ calculations using the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, Public Use Microdata Sample, 2021, which is subject to sampling variation.

State	Poverty Rate (%)		Gap (% pts) [3]	State	Poverty Rate (%)		Gap (% pts) [3]
Table 6.3 Poverty Gap — Civilians with and without Disabilities Ages 18-64 Years Living in the Community for the United States and States, by Disability Status: 2021
State	Disability [1]	No Disability [2]	Gap (% pts) [3]	State	Disability [1]	No Disability [2]	Gap (% pts) [3]
U.S.	25.4	11.8	13.6	MO	27.8	11.7	16.1
AL	27.5	14.4	13.1	MT	25.6	11.5	14.1
AK	24.0	9.1	14.9	NE	21.4	10.7	10.7
AZ	22.0	12.1	9.9	NV	24.7	12.2	12.5
AR	28.1	14.4	13.7	NH	18.6	7.7	10.9
CA	22.5	11.3	11.2	NJ	21.5	9.2	12.3
CO	19.4	9.7	9.7	NM	31.8	17.3	14.5
CT	23.9	10.4	13.5	NY	29.1	13.0	16.1
DE	21.6	11.5	10.1	NC	24.5	13.0	11.5
DC	37.8	17.1	20.7	ND	22.0	11.3	10.7
FL	23.5	12.0	11.5	OH	28.5	12.0	16.5
GA	24.2	12.7	11.5	OK	26.9	14.0	12.9
HI	28.3	10.4	17.9	OR	26.9	11.9	15.0
ID	18.7	10.3	8.4	PA	27.5	11.3	16.2
IL	25.3	11.0	14.3	RI	23.6	13.1	10.5
IN	25.3	11.7	13.6	SC	26.0	14.4	11.6
IA	28.8	11.7	17.1	SD	29.9	12.6	17.3
KS	27.9	11.6	16.3	TN	28.3	12.4	15.9
KY	32.6	14.5	18.1	TX	22.3	12.5	9.8
LA	31.4	17.3	14.1	UT	19.6	8.5	11.1
ME	34.1	10.9	23.2	VT	35.5	13.0	22.5
MD	23.8	9.3	14.5	VA	22.6	10.3	12.3
MA	26.4	11.6	14.8	WA	23.6	9.3	14.3
MI	26.3	12.2	14.1	WV	31.3	16.6	14.7
MN	23.3	8.5	14.8	WI	26.8	10.4	16.4
MS	30.7	16.8	13.9	WY	22.2	12.1	10.1
Citation: Paul, S., Rogers, S., Bach, S., & Houtenville, A. (2023). Annual Disability Statistics Compendium: 2023 (Table 6.3). Durham, NH: University of New Hampshire, Institute on Disability. Note: Authors’ calculations using the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, Public Use Microdata Sample, 2021, which is subject to sampling variation. [1] Civilians with disabilities ages 18-64 living in poverty as a percent of the total civilians with disabilities. [2] Civilians without disabilities ages 18-64 living in poverty as a percent of the total civilians without disabilities. [3] The difference in the percentage points of poverty rates between disability and no disability.