Mississippi ranks highest in poverty, homicide rates in U.S., but is 9th in this category
Mississippi has the distinction of being the poorest state with the highest homicide rate in the U.S., according to a recent analysis from prescription management service NiceRx.
Research from the company looked at CDC, World Population Review and Data USA data to clock each state’s life expectancy, average household income, number of homicides, safety, poverty rates and mental illness rates.
It found the Magnolia State ranked last across almost all categories except mental health — Mississippi was among the states with best mental health scores, coming in ninth.
Mississippi’s safety score was the lowest in the nation, with the highest homicide rate, 15.4 per 100,000 people, and a life expectancy of 74.6 years.
The state also has the worst poverty rate of 20.3%, while having a very low mean household income of $62,835 — the lowest salary ranking of any state. West Virginia comes in next lowest at $63,680 and Arkansas is third from the bottom at $66,557.
An October study from NiceRX found that Mississippi has the highest percentage of adults who said they skip health care because of costs, at 19.2%.
In overall scores, Louisiana performed similarly poorly across the board, scoring just above Mississippi in most categories. The poverty rate there also stands at 19.2%, and there are 14.7 homicides per 100,000 people, However, the mean household income was higher at $71,001.
Hawaii ranks the happiest state in the country, with a particularly low rate of serious mental illness and one of the longest life expediencies in the country at 81 years.
Connecticut and New Jersey follow. Connecticut scores well for every factor, with a poverty rate under 10%, a life expectancy of 80.4 years. New Jersey has a high mean salary of $114,691 supported by strong performances in all other categories.
This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 11:45 AM.
