With the giving season reminding us to be selfless and around 10.6 percent of the U.S. population living in poverty, the personal-finance company WalletHub has followed up on its recent report on the Most Charitable States for 2026 with an in-depth look at the Neediest Cities in America.
Hoping to inspire goodwill toward the less fortunate, WalletHub compared more than 180 U.S. cities across 28 key metrics to determine where Americans are most economically disadvantaged. The data set includes factors like the child poverty rate, food insecurity rate and uninsured rate.
Neediest Cities in America
Detroit, Michigan tops the list as the neediest city in the country, followed by Brownsville, TX; Shreveport, LA; Cleveland, OH; Little Rock, AR; Gulfport, MS; Corpus Christi, TX; Birmingham, AL; Laredo, TX; and New Orleans, Louisiana closing out the top 10.
Rated as the number 11 through number 20 neediest cities were Baton Rouge, LA; Los Angeles, CA; Fort Smith, AR; Philadelphia, PA; Newark, NJ; Memphis, TN; Baltimore, MD; Houston, TX; Columbia, SC; and at number 20, Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Key Stats
Overland Park, Kansas, has the lowest child poverty rate, which is 11.8 times lower than in Cleveland, Ohio, the city with the highest.
Gilbert, Arizona, has the lowest adult poverty rate, which is 5.4 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest.
Columbia, Maryland, has the fewest homeless persons (per 1,000 residents), which is 42.2 times fewer than in New York, the city with the most.
Sioux Falls and Rapid City, South Dakota, have the lowest unemployment rate, which is 5.4 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest.
South Burlington, Vermont, has the lowest share of uninsured residents, which is 13 times lower than in Brownsville, Texas, the city with the highest.
To view the full report, visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/cities-with-the-highest-and-lowest-population-in-need/8795
“In the neediest cities, a large number of people lack access to adequate food, health care and shelter, but there are plenty of other less obvious issues that also need to be resolved. The neediest cities need to address problems like high school dropout rates, lack of access to quality internet, overcrowded housing, poor mental health and more. Fixing these issues can lift people out of poverty, lower crime rates, and elevate people’s mental and physical health,” said WalletHub Analyst Chip Lupo. “Detroit is the neediest city, in large part due to the fact that it has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, at 9.1 percent. Motown also has the highest adult poverty rate and second-highest child poverty rate in the country, with more than a quarter of the city’s adults and close to half of its children living below the poverty line. In addition, safety is a big concern, as Detroit has the third-highest violent crime rate in the nation and the 24th-highest property crime rate. On top of those issues, Detroit has the third-highest share of households lacking complete plumbing facilities and the fifth-highest share without a computer.”
Expert Commentary
What are the main challenges facing low-income families today?
“One of the largest challenges facing low-income families is the complexity of the current economic situation in the United States. Just about everything has seen significant increases in cost while we are also seeing considerable cuts to safety net programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Housing, food, transportation, and childcare costs have all increased significantly over the past decade. Average rent cost, one of the biggest contributors to this issue, increased about 5.4 percent per year between 2015 and 2025. Similarly, food costs have increased by approximately 37 percent since 2017. Childcare costs have also seen drastic increases by an estimated 29 percent, just in the period from 2020 to 2024. Together, it has recently been reported that childcare costs for families with two children exceed rental costs in 85 of the country’s largest metro areas. These increased costs are exacerbated by planned cuts to several federal support programs.”
Thomas P. Felke, MSW, Ph.D. – Professor, Florida Gulf Coast University
“Housing is the single biggest challenge in most cities. Rents have risen far faster than wages at the bottom of the labor market. These families are now paying over a third of their incomes maintaining roofs over their heads. That leaves very little to pay for other necessities such as food and healthcare. Being able to secure reliable transportation complicates being able to go where the jobs are and to escape food deserts. Participating in the gig economy has eased the pressure a bit, but it adds wear and tear on vehicles for those families still fortunate to have access. Student loans, medical debt, high-interest credit cards, fines and fees, and predatory lenders all erode the very small buffer that low-income households might otherwise enjoy. Many families live paycheck to paycheck. Receiving help usually involves navigating overly complex application processes. Even applying for jobs has become a nightmare with most requiring digital access and uploading numerous documents. The administrative burden for seeking relief or for employment creates a form of ‘sludge’ that screens out those most in need.”
Brett S. Sharp, Ph.D. – Professor, University of Central Oklahoma
What policy interventions have proven successful in helping families achieve economic independence? What policies have failed?
“Policy interventions have been uneven in helping families achieve economic independence for various reasons. Research shows that tax credits, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC), have been relatively successful. For example, the child poverty rate fell dramatically in 2021 when an expanded version of the CTC was enacted but the rate rose again in subsequent years when that expansion expired. This is particularly true when these credits are added to other safety net programs such as Medicaid, SNAP, and childcare supports. Again, it is important to remember that these programs are designed to support households both below and above the Federal Poverty Line (FPL). This is critical as it assists in the prevention of many households from slipping below the FPL. The FPL itself is a flawed measure of poverty. Having been adopted in 1969 and adjusted solely for inflation, the original methodology of the FPL has not been modernized and does not vary based on geography, except for Alaska and Hawaii. This is important as a simplified version of the FPL is used to determine eligibility for federal programs like SNAP and WIC. We are hearing a lot about rebate checks to the public currently, specifically from tariff revenue. However, these checks are not guaranteed, need to be passed via legislation, and currently do not provide any indication of eligibility requirements. These types of initiatives have been used in previous years, as recently as 2021, but provide little actual long-term support to households. The amounts are usually enough to cover just one month of rent or childcare costs while also increasing the national debt and contributing to higher inflation rates.”
Thomas P. Felke, MSW, Ph.D. – Professor, Florida Gulf Coast University
How can charities and nonprofits most effectively serve the poor?
“Rather than the ‘charitable-only’ approach which helps ameliorate immediate problems, more philanthropic approaches should be attempted to create long-term solutions. Nonprofits should also increase their collaborative efforts to fully address the neediest within their target populations. Creating one-stop shops, co-locating services, building genuine referral networks, sharing data, and adopting common intake processes would greatly simplify access to services within a given community. Nonprofit organizations can themselves by forceful advocates for policy changes such as minimum wage increases, zoning reforms, and better transit options.”
Brett S. Sharp, Ph.D. – Professor, University of Central Oklahoma
