CALIFORNIA – Poverty and food insecurity live in the United States rain or shine – holiday season or not. Food insecurity is rampant in every country in the United States, with 38 million people lack of access to adequate food in 2020, reported Feeding America.
In the Golden State, 26 cities ranked among the most needy in the country, according to a report by WalletHub. The report compared more than 180 U.S. cities based on 28 key economic struggle indicators, such as child poverty, food insecurity, and uninsured rates.
Fresno, Los Angeles and San Francisco are among the six cities with the highest roaming rates in the country.
“As we continue to grapple with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important both to help our existing impoverished population and to ensure that we minimize the number of new people falling into poverty,” WalletHub wrote in its report.
The ranked cities were determined based on two key dimensions, WalletHub said: “Economic well-being” and “Health and safety”.
Natasha Pilkauskas, associate professor at the University of Michigan, said in the report that the impact of COVID-19 has left a lasting effect on low-income families. Pilkauskas said this was in part because low-income families typically had jobs that couldn’t be done remotely.
“In my research with low-income families, we find that many people currently face high rates of food insecurity and cannot pay all of their bills or rent,” Pilkauskas said in the report. “Many of these families also note that basic expenses – like food or other basic necessities – are more expensive to cover now than a year ago.”
Several dozen California cities ranked out of 182 – is your city on the list?
- # 6: Los Angeles, California.
- # 24: San Bernardino, California.
- # 37: Oakland, California.
- # 39: Stockton, California.
- # 45: Long Beach, California.
- # 57: San Francisco, California.
- # 59: Bakersfield, California.
- # 84: Sacramento, California.
- # 89: Modesto, California.
- # 92: Anaheim, California.
- # 98: Santa Clarita, California.
- # 110: Santa Ana, California.
- # 115: Ontario, California.
- # 123: Garden Grove, California.
- # 130: Riverside, California.
- # 131: Fontana, California.
- # 132: Glendale, California.
- # 134: Moreno Valley, California.
- # 146: San Diego, California.
- # 149: San José, California.
- # 151: Oceanside, California.
- # 158: Chula Vista, California.
- # 165: Rancho Cucamonga, California.
- # 172: Huntington Beach, California.
- # 173: Irvine, California.
- # 176: Fremont, California.
