According to the United States Census Bureau the following are the places in the United States with the lowest per capita or median household income. Locations with populations from the 2010 census are ranked by median household income as surveyed between 2008 and 2012. For comparison, locations are next listed with populations per capita income from the 2000 census. The most sizable community in 2000 (with a population of 13,138) was Kiryas Joel, New York which had a per capita income of just $4,355. In terms of geographic size, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and the adjacent Rosebud Indian Reservation (Lakota Sioux Reservations, South Dakota) have long been among the lowest income areas in the United States. Three of the lowest ten per capita income locations in the U.S. are on these two reservations, which constitute the three largest populations in the bottom ten locations.
The data below are for annual median household income, based on 2008–2012 American Community Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau, and with populations from the 2010 U.S. Census. Only places with a population over 1,000 are included, as data on locations with small populations often has a very high margin of error.
For comparison, the median household income for the United States is $53,046.
Out of these 100 places, 30 are majority white, 47 are majority Black, 4 are majority Native American, and 15 are majority Latino. Of these 100 places, 66 are in the former Confederacy (12 in Mississippi, 11 in Texas, 9 in North Carolina, 8 in Louisiana, 7 in Arkansas, 6 in Georgia, 4 each in Alabama and South Carolina, 3 in Tennessee, and 2 in Florida); additionally, there are 8 in Kentucky, 4 each in Arizona, California, and Michigan, 3 each in Illinois, New Mexico, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and 2 in Missouri.