California has the nation’s highest poverty rate, despite boasts by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) that the state is also the fourth-richest economy in the world.
Newsom declared in April: “California isn’t just keeping pace with the world—we’re setting the pace. Our economy is thriving because we invest in people, prioritize sustainability, and believe in the power of innovation.”
Yet for more than one in six Californians, poverty is the reality of life in Newsom’s state.
The Sacramento Bee reported Thursday:
California continued to have the highest poverty rate in the nation last year at 17.7%, tied only with Louisiana, according to new data released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau. The state’s supplemental poverty measure, or SPM, declined from 2023, when it stood at 18.9%.
Still, the 2024 figure means that nearly 7 million Californians were unable to afford basic necessities like food, housing and medical care.
The Bee added that California had only managed to see improvements in recent years because of federal largesse: “Laura Pryor, the research director for the California Budget & Policy Center, noted that the state’s poverty rate dropped to a historic low of 11% after federal policies were implemented to help Americans weather the COVID-19 pandemic.”
With the end of federal payments, poverty rose again — and Newsom turned a near-$100 billion surplus into two consecutive years of budget deficits.
California also has the highest unemployment rate, at 5.5% — much worse than Louisiana, at 4.5%. Only the District of Columbia, which is not a state, has a higher rate, at 6.0%.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You, now available on Amazon. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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