Florida’s poorest town has an annual median income of just $22,000

by | Jan 9, 2023



  • With a median annual household income of just over $22,000, Gifford, Florida, located in Indian River County near Vero Beach, is the state’s poorest community
  • Florida’s median household income is over $61,000 per year, with a statewide poverty rate of 13 percent
  • The poverty rate in Gifford clocks in at over 48 percent – nearly one in two households
  • The poorest community in the nation is located in Texas, with a median annual household income of just $9,110

According to the latest data, the typical American household earned an average of $69,021 over the five years ending in 2021. While this latest figure represents a modest 6% increase over estimates from the five-year period ending in 2020, for most Americans, any increase in income has been wiped out by surging inflation.

Though the consumer price index has dipped since hitting a multi-decade high of 9.1% in June 2022, inflation remains at historic highs, and Americans across the country are feeling the pinch – particularly those on the lower end of the income spectrum, without the means to absorb rising costs.

According to the latest five-year ACS data, the typical household in Florida earns $61,777 a year, though there are many places in the state where incomes are far lower. Of the 592 towns in the state with available data, Gifford ranks as the poorest. The typical Gifford household earns just $22,353 a year, 63.8% less than the statewide median household income.

Given the low incomes, it is not surprising that a larger than average share of residents live in poverty. The local poverty rate in the town stands at 48.6%, compared to the statewide poverty rate of 13.1%.

All data in this story are five-year estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey. For the purposes of this story, towns are defined as incorporated legal entities or census-designated statistical areas with populations between 1,000 to 25,000 people. Towns were excluded if median household income was not available in the 2021 ACS or if the sampling error associated with a town’s data was deemed too high.

State Poorest town Median household income in town ($) Median household income in state ($) Poverty rate in town (%) Poverty rate in state (%) Number of towns considered in state
Alabama Livingston 16,321 54,943 50.2 15.8 298
Alaska Alakanuk 36,429 80,287 42.8 10.4 70
Arizona Cibecue 18,232 65,913 66.7 13.5 168
Arkansas Marianna 17,932 52,123 39.0 16.0 190
California Thermal 14,500 84,097 40.2 12.3 732
Colorado Rocky Ford 29,822 80,184 31.9 9.6 182
Connecticut Storrs 23,964 83,572 45.4 10.0 128
Delaware Laurel 34,615 72,724 40.0 11.4 50
Florida Gifford 22,353 61,777 48.6 13.1 592
Georgia Glenwood 19,625 65,030 13.0 13.9 326
Hawaii Hawaiian Ocean View 25,402 88,005 39.2 9.5 114
Idaho Glenns Ferry 29,219 63,377 41.7 11.4 87
Illinois Alorton 19,605 72,563 58.6 11.8 621
Indiana Austin 27,008 61,944 24.0 12.5 309
Iowa Fayette 35,682 65,429 25.0 11.0 266
Kansas Chetopa 21,843 64,521 28.3 11.5 188
Kentucky Clay City 19,643 55,454 41.7 16.3 218
Louisiana Many 18,148 53,571 46.2 18.8 248
Maine Machias 20,333 63,182 38.3 11.0 101
Maryland Federalsburg 31,532 91,431 28.4 9.2 273
Massachusetts Ware 43,783 89,026 17.4 9.9 154
Michigan Baldwin 22,593 63,202 40.8 13.3 382
Minnesota Aurora 32,287 77,706 24.7 9.2 313
Mississippi Rosedale 15,955 49,111 52.7 19.4 173
Missouri Versailles 22,786 61,043 29.0 12.8 348
Montana Plains 24,844 60,560 20.5 12.5 87
Nebraska Falls City 37,712 66,644 14.5 10.3 115
Nevada Tonopah 33,144 65,686 19.2 12.9 43
New Hampshire Ashland 33,365 83,449 31.7 7.4 57
New Jersey Salem 26,667 89,703 37.8 9.8 498
New Mexico University Park 19,125 54,020 53.2 18.3 141
New York Rochester Institute of Technology 18,229 75,157 49.8 13.5 750
North Carolina Scotland Neck 15,985 60,516 47.4 13.7 405
North Dakota New Rockford 35,595 68,131 11.3 10.7 50
Ohio Lincoln Heights 12,183 61,938 64.4 13.4 623
Oklahoma Wetumka 24,769 56,956 43.0 15.2 225
Oregon Grand Ronde 27,465 70,084 33.2 12.1 200
Pennsylvania Shippensburg University 18,125 67,587 63.8 11.8 942
Rhode Island Central Falls 40,235 74,489 24.9 11.3 19
South Carolina Blackville 19,583 58,234 35.8 14.5 236
South Dakota Fort Thompson 24,125 63,920 47.4 12.5 74
Tennessee Jamestown 18,000 58,516 46.7 14.3 272
Texas Carrizo Hill 9,110 67,321 96.9 14.0 877
Utah East Carbon 39,583 79,133 22.9 8.8 135
Vermont West Brattleboro 36,618 67,674 19.4 10.5 47
Virginia Jonesville 17,344 80,615 46.9 9.9 328
Washington Oroville 32,083 82,400 33.2 10.0 345
West Virginia Williamson 18,640 50,884 32.9 16.9 143
Wisconsin Lac du Flambeau 26,076 67,080 29.9 10.7 357
Wyoming Fort Washakie 41,944 68,002 30.1 10.7 52

19 Comments

  1. Anonymous

    This whole article is wrong. As of Dec 2022, the city of University, Fl is the poorest not Gifford

    • Anonymous

      Gifford is not even a town, it’s an area that carries a Vero Beach address.

      • Anonymous

        I saw it when I was in Vero Beach

  2. Beez Neez

    There are poor communities in every state in the nation and every nation on earth. There always will be. The primary reason for poverty is that the people who live in poor places are dispirited in one way or another, by alcohol and / or drug abuse, familial poverty, mental illness, negative thinking, government dependency, laziness, crime, hate, envy, and by thousands of other factors related ultimately to human sin.

    • Anonymous

      😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

    • Anonymous

      Or once good paying jobs being moved overseas

  3. Anonymous

    Keep voting democrat , and things won’t change

    • Dom Trump

      Vote republican, and things will get much worse.

    • Tee beny

      Well we could vote republican and then we will all live below poverty

    • Ron DePanties

      Florida is republican you moron.

  4. Anonymous

    I don’t live near that town .but I live on 24k from S.S. as are millions of us..will never collect anywhere near 1 half of contribution before death. Why no raises?and illegals get 4k and more in luxuries plus free rent and food. GREATEST nation .my azz.worked 40 yrs for company went bankrupt and stole our pensions and 401.never had a 401 they just claimed so. Deducted us anyway .fake all around Shrugged shoulders everywhere. So don’t act like you discovered a lost tribe in the wild ,there’s millions of us.

    • Concerned Citizen

      Just wait – Kevin McCarthy and his band of miscreants are going to cut our social security. Then we are really screwed.

  5. Anonymous

    Here in Immokalee Florida we keep getting punished because we’re poor for the free food most of it’s rotten out here Ron DeSantis really destroyed a lot of us cuz of him were starving sometimes

  6. Anonymous

    Kaka

  7. waynemolina

    And I bet the houses cost 10x that.

  8. Anonymous

    Nice to see Old Town in Dixie County isn’t the poorest anymore! Yay! Thanks Nestle!!

    • Jim. Piercey

      What about moon lake

  9. CynthiS

    Complete BS. First of all it’s NOT A TOWN. Then you somehow picked out two of the worst buildings you could find. Gifford is a CDP and in the URBAN part, approx 1 sq mile/8 blocks are very proud people with LIVES. They have mostly good housing, a great community center including olympic sized pool and FREE transportation and after school child care and homework help. They have extensive activities. The rest is some of the most expensive housing in the county.

  10. CynthiS

    AND BTW there is massive building development for low income housing going on there. Since the former ones had to be bulldozed down due to lack of care by the residents.

 

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