Los Angeles ranks in top 5 of neediest cities in the US

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A homeless woman salvaging on Skid Row, downtown Los Angeles. (Russ Allison Loar – Wikimedia)

With the giving season reminding us to be selfless and 12.3 percent of our fellow Americans in poverty and half a million homeless, the personal-finance website WalletHub followed up on its report on the Most Charitable States with an in-depth look at 2018’s Neediest Cities as well as accompanying videos.

Hoping to inspire goodwill toward the less fortunate, WalletHub compared more than 180 U.S. cities across 27 key metrics to determine where Americans are most economically disadvantaged. The data set ranges from child poverty rate to food-insecurity rate to uninsured rate.

Neediest Cities

1: Detroit, MI
2: Cleveland, OH
3: Newark, NJ
4: Memphis, TN
5: Los Angeles, CA
6: Jackson, MS
7: Little Rock, AR
8: Philadelphia, PA
9: St. Louis, MO
10: New Orleans, LA
11: Atlanta, GA
12: Brownsville, TX
13: Fresno, CA
14: Indianapolis, IN
15: Baltimore, MD
16: Birmingham, AL
17: Toledo, OH
18: Miami, FL
19: Richmond, VA
20: Gulfport, MS

Key Stats

Fremont, California, has the lowest child poverty rate, 3.90 percent, which is 14 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest at 54.50 percent.

Pearl City, Hawaii, has the lowest adult poverty rate, 4.03 percent, which is eight times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest at 32.30 percent.

Overland Park, Kansas, has the fewest homeless persons (per 1,000 residents), 0.22, which is 64.3 times fewer than in Honolulu, the city with the most at 14.14.

South Burlington, Vermont, has the lowest unemployment rate, 1.90 percent, which is 4.8 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest at 9.20 percent.

Pearl City, Hawaii, has the lowest share of uninsured residents, 2.80 percent, which is 11.4 times lower than in Brownsville, Texas, the city with the highest at 31.90 percent.

To view the full report and your city’s rank, please visit here.