2021 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 2020, of the 21,523,050 individuals with disabilities ages 18-64 years who were living in the community, 11,951,538 individuals lived in poverty—a poverty rate of 27.8 percent. In contrast, of the 178,475,229 individuals without disabilities ages 18-64 years living in the community, 42,551,532 individuals lived in poverty—a poverty rate of 11.9 percent. The poverty rate for people with disabilities was highest in the District of Columbia (49.0 percent) and lowest in Utah (19.4 percent).

Table 6.3: In 2020, the poverty rate of individuals with disabilities ages 18-64 years living in the community was 11.9 percent, while the poverty rate of individuals without disabilities ages 18-64 years living in the community was 27.8 percent—a difference of 15.9 percentage points. The poverty gap was smallest in North Dakota and Utah (a difference of 11.5 percentage points) and greatest in the District of Columbia (a difference of 33.7 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: 2020
State	Total	Count	%	State	Total	Count	%
U.S.	21,523,050	11,951,538	27.8	MO	452,325	269,570	29.8
AL	434,220	255,030	29.4	MT	73,328	43,306	29.5
AK	40,730	19,434	23.9	NE	98,096	49,346	25.2
AZ	488,802	254,944	26.1	NV	208,600	106,526	25.5
AR	297,304	180,772	30.4	NH	87,215	38,914	22.3
CA	2,064,229	1,041,502	25.2	NJ	451,856	204,146	22.6
CO	338,603	158,520	23.4	NM	180,015	119,096	33.1
CT	198,105	115,048	29.0	NY	1,092,557	667,340	30.5
DE	69,127	36,396	26.3	NC	745,123	420,034	28.2
DC	46,410	45,486	49.0	ND	37,939	19,592	25.8
FL	1,345,230	723,312	26.9	OH	874,248	555,104	31.7
GA	757,956	428,078	28.2	OK	373,359	225,908	30.3
HI	67,460	29,164	21.6	OR	315,368	175,448	27.8
ID	130,917	58,282	22.3	PA	883,490	506,716	28.7
IL	716,876	396,098	27.6	RI	78,954	43,792	27.7
IN	514,248	290,964	28.3	SC	380,650	211,482	27.8
IA	197,212	97,418	24.7	SD	49,716	31,550	31.7
KS	206,067	120,258	29.2	TN	557,495	348,210	31.2
KY	447,045	289,686	32.4	TX	1,809,900	944,836	26.1
LA	395,171	262,888	33.3	UT	187,415	72,852	19.4
ME	109,097	63,692	29.2	VT	43,494	31,500	36.2
MD	335,712	167,046	24.9	VA	511,784	242,136	23.7
MA	413,228	232,882	28.2	WA	529,586	270,568	25.5
MI	759,317	453,508	29.9	WV	176,780	120,896	34.2
MN	307,760	153,964	25.0	WI	335,325	164,892	24.6
MS	269,622	176,506	32.7	WY	37,984	16,900	22.2
Citation: Paul, S., Rafal, M., & Houtenville, A. (2021). Annual Disability Statistics Compendium: 2021 (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 with Experimental Weights, 2020, 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: 2020
State	Total	Count	%	State	Total	Count	%
U.S.	178,475,229	42,551,532	11.9	MO	3,226,772	800,618	12.4
AL	2,516,017	704,986	14.0	MT	553,646	145,654	13.2
AK	395,524	74,080	9.4	NE	1,026,166	217,386	10.6
AZ	3,900,699	1,039,764	13.3	NV	1,710,089	395,704	11.6
AR	1,478,506	459,286	15.5	NH	762,360	130,582	8.6
CA	22,364,711	5,014,182	11.2	NJ	4,969,902	927,540	9.3
CO	3,307,379	624,126	9.4	NM	1,058,682	354,738	16.8
CT	1,988,949	419,326	10.5	NY	10,863,050	2,760,490	12.7
DE	510,792	113,660	11.1	NC	5,662,705	1,436,292	12.7
DC	443,787	135,378	15.3	ND	406,661	116,548	14.3
FL	11,459,108	2,697,778	11.8	OH	6,148,772	1,549,376	12.6
GA	5,823,262	1,604,486	13.8	OK	2,005,129	600,340	15.0
HI	727,711	140,052	9.6	OR	2,271,151	506,838	11.2
ID	941,857	201,786	10.7	PA	6,840,367	1,613,092	11.8
IL	6,984,533	1,556,900	11.1	RI	584,159	130,106	11.1
IN	3,574,075	897,442	12.6	SC	2,701,777	794,398	14.7
IA	1,674,271	391,660	11.7	SD	470,935	119,710	12.7
KS	1,508,097	340,026	11.3	TN	3,651,972	934,854	12.8
KY	2,244,032	643,828	14.3	TX	16,151,018	4,039,222	12.5
LA	2,378,364	829,176	17.4	UT	1,757,473	277,908	7.9
ME	689,847	144,580	10.5	VT	336,815	85,304	12.7
MD	3,346,635	618,876	9.2	VA	4,666,601	978,802	10.5
MA	3,943,738	886,768	11.2	WA	4,208,860	771,408	9.2
MI	5,307,054	1,253,144	11.8	WV	878,406	288,858	16.4
MN	3,084,851	495,906	8.0	WI	3,191,886	689,962	10.8
MS	1,477,260	537,706	18.2	WY	298,816	60,900	10.2
Citation: Paul, S., Rafal, M., & Houtenville, A. (2021). Annual Disability Statistics Compendium: 2021 (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 with Experimental Weights, 2020, 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: 2020
State	No Disability [1]	Disability [2]	Gap (% pts) [3]	State	No Disability [1]	Disability [2]	Gap (% pts) [3]
U.S.	11.9	27.8	15.9	MO	12.4	29.8	17.4
AL	14.0	29.4	15.4	MT	13.2	29.5	16.3
AK	9.4	23.9	14.5	NE	10.6	25.2	14.6
AZ	13.3	26.1	12.8	NV	11.6	25.5	13.9
AR	15.5	30.4	14.9	NH	8.6	22.3	13.7
CA	11.2	25.2	14.0	NJ	9.3	22.6	13.3
CO	9.4	23.4	14.0	NM	16.8	33.1	16.3
CT	10.5	29.0	18.5	NY	12.7	30.5	17.8
DE	11.1	26.3	15.2	NC	12.7	28.2	15.5
DC	15.3	49.0	33.7	ND	14.3	25.8	11.5
FL	11.8	26.9	15.1	OH	12.6	31.7	19.1
GA	13.8	28.2	14.4	OK	15.0	30.3	15.3
HI	9.6	21.6	12.0	OR	11.2	27.8	16.6
ID	10.7	22.3	11.6	PA	11.8	28.7	16.9
IL	11.1	27.6	16.5	RI	11.1	27.7	16.6
IN	12.6	28.3	15.7	SC	14.7	27.8	13.1
IA	11.7	24.7	13.0	SD	12.7	31.7	19.0
KS	11.3	29.2	17.9	TN	12.8	31.2	18.4
KY	14.3	32.4	18.1	TX	12.5	26.1	13.6
LA	17.4	33.3	15.9	UT	7.9	19.4	11.5
ME	10.5	29.2	18.7	VT	12.7	36.2	23.5
MD	9.2	24.9	15.7	VA	10.5	23.7	13.2
MA	11.2	28.2	17.0	WA	9.2	25.5	16.3
MI	11.8	29.9	18.1	WV	16.4	34.2	17.8
MN	8.0	25.0	17.0	WI	10.8	24.6	13.8
MS	18.2	32.7	14.5	WY	10.2	22.2	12.0
Citation: Paul, S., Rafal, M., & Houtenville, A. (2021). Annual Disability Statistics Compendium: 2021 (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 with Experimental Weights, 2020, which is subject to sampling variation. [1] Civilians without disabilities ages 18-64 living in poverty as a percent of the total civilians without disabilities. [2] Civilians with disabilities ages 18-64 living in poverty as a percent of the total civilians with disabilities. [3] The difference in the percentage points of poverty rates between disability and no disability.