Two reports released yesterday by the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) provide new state and local income, income inequality, and poverty statistics. According to the report, Poverty: 2012 and 2013, which compares statistics from the 2012 and 2013 ACS, 15.8 percent of the U.S. population (48.8 million people) had income below the poverty level in 2013 (not statistically different from 2012).

While the poverty rates in states that are home to a Children’s HealthWatch research site were either unchanged or decreased by a statistically insignificant amount, the rates remained remarkably high in 2013 – Arkansas (19.7 percent), Pennsylvania (13.7 percent)Maryland (10.1 percent), Massachusetts (11.9 percent), Minnesota (11.2 percent),. These data are especially troubling for some of our poorest citizens – infants and toddlers and their families.