With the giving season reminding us to be selfless and the COVID-19 pandemic threatening to bring the number of Americans without adequate food to 50 million, the personal-finance website WalletHub followed up on its report on the Most Charitable States for 2021 with an in-depth look at 2020'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 28 key metrics to determine where Americans are most economically disadvantaged. The data set includes factors like the child poverty rate, food-insecurity rate and uninsured rate.| Neediest Cities | |
| 1. Detroit, MI | 11. Augusta, GA |
| 2. Brownsville, TX | 12. St. Louis, MO |
| 3. Cleveland, OH | 13. Miami, FL |
| 4. Memphis, TN | 14. Baltimore, MD |
| 5. Laredo, TX | 15. Newark, NJ |
| 6. Birmingham, AL | 16. Indianapolis, IN |
| 7. Fresno, CA | 17. Las Cruces, NM |
| 8. Los Angeles, CA | 18. Jackson, MS |
| 9. New Orleans, LA | 19. Gulfport, MS |
| 10. Philadelphia, PA | 20. Hialeah, FL |
Key Stats
- Fremont, California, has the lowest child poverty rate, 3.41 percent, which is 15.3 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest at 52.23 percent.
- Pearl City, Hawaii, has the lowest adult poverty rate, 4.16 percent, which is 7.5 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest at 31.16 percent.
- Overland Park, Kansas, has the fewest homeless persons (per 1,000 residents), 0.32, which is 50.6 times fewer than in Fresno, California, the city with the most at 16.18.
- Fargo, North Dakota and Bismarck, North Dakota, have the lowest unemployment rate, 3.00 percent, which is 6.9 times lower than in Detroit, the city with the highest at 20.60 percent.
- Pearl City, Hawaii, has the lowest share of uninsured residents, 2.30 percent, which is 13.6 times lower than in Brownsville, Texas, the city with the highest at 31.20 percent.
