Louisiana is second most impoverished state, says the US Census Bureau

Shreveport: non-flying squirrel, a photo by trudeau on Flickr.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Census Bureau reports the number of Americans in poverty stood at 15 percent in 2011.

About 46.2 million people, or nearly 1 in 6, were in poverty. That is not statistically different from the 15.1 percent who were impoverished in 2010.

Broken down by state, New Mexico had the highest share of poor people, at 22.2 percent, according to rough calculations by the Census Bureau.

It was followed by Louisiana at 21.1 percent with about 947,000 residents living below the poverty line. The median income for Louisiana residents is about $40,658 a year, according to the report. That's lower than all but three states: Kentucky, South Carolina and Montana. Nationally, the median income is about $50,000 a year.