The poorest cities in America, and why Ohio keeps showing up

The poorest city in America by median household income is Youngstown, Ohio, where the typical household earns $34,408 a year. That is less than half the national median of $80,734.

Among the 876 cities with at least 50,000 residents, the bottom of the list is concentrated in the industrial Midwest. Ten of the 15 lowest-income cities are in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana, and Ohio has more cities in the bottom 50 than any other state, with eight.

Every city on the list has a poverty rate of at least 24 percent, roughly double the national rate of 12.5 percent. Youngstown's is highest at 37.3 percent. Unemployment is high too: Flint, Camden, and Detroit each had rates of about 14 percent or more.

Education separates these cities from the richest ones as sharply as income does. In Flint, Gary, and Youngstown, about 15 percent of adults 25 and older have a bachelor's degree, and in Camden, 10 percent do. Nationally the figure is 35.7 percent. At the top of the income list, in Palo Alto and Cupertino, it is 82 percent.

Housing is cheap for the same reasons. Flint's median home value is $53,500 and Youngstown's is $63,300, compared with $332,700 nationally. Thirteen of the 15 cities have median home values under $125,000.

The poorest big cities

Among the 91 cities with at least 250,000 people, Detroit has the lowest median household income at $39,938, followed by Cleveland at $40,801. Next come Toledo, Ohio, at $49,724, Buffalo, New York, at $50,041, Memphis at $51,736, Newark, New Jersey, at $52,060, Cincinnati at $52,909, and Milwaukee at $54,234. Three of the seven lowest are in Ohio.

College towns on the list

Not every city near the bottom has the same story. In three of the 15, a large share of residents are college students: Muncie, home of Ball State University (23 percent enrolled in college or graduate school), Terre Haute, home of Indiana State University (16 percent), and Valdosta, home of Valdosta State University (14 percent). No other city in the bottom 15 is above 12 percent, and Youngstown and Flint are at about 6 and 4 percent. Students who live on their own often report little income, which pulls the median down. Just outside the bottom 15, Gainesville, Florida, home of the University of Florida, ranks 17th lowest at $46,195, even though 53.7 percent of its adults hold a bachelor's degree.

The gap between the richest city of this size, Sammamish, Washington, at $239,690, and Youngstown is about seven to one. That list is in the richest cities in America. For cities ranked by poverty rate instead of income, see the poorest cities in America by poverty rate, and for counties, the poorest counties in America. The full ranking is at cities with the lowest median household income.

Sources

Figures are from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates: median household income (table B19013), poverty rate, unemployment rate, educational attainment, median home value (table B25077), and school enrollment (table B14001, people enrolled in undergraduate or graduate school as a share of total population). National figures are the bureau's published estimates for the United States. The list covers places with 50,000 or more residents. Dollar figures are not adjusted for local cost of living.