41. Winner, South Dakota

> Town median household income: $34,331

> State median household income: $50,957

> Town poverty rate: 28.6%

> Town population: 2,855

The median household income in Winner is just $34,331 a year, roughly $17,000 less than the statewide median income of $50,957. An estimated 28.6% of the town’s population lives in poverty, a larger share than the 14.1% state and 15.5% national poverty rates. With such low incomes, many town residents rely on government assistance to meet their basic needs. Roughly 22% of Winner residents receive SNAP benefits, twice the corresponding state figure of 11%.

Source: Cherokee High School / Wikimedia Commons

42. Rogersville, Tennessee

> Town median household income: $25,095

> State median household income: $45,219

> Town poverty rate: 26.6%

> Town population: 4,400

Rogersville is one of the poorest towns in the country, with a median household income of just $25,095 a year — less than half the national median income of $53,889. Like many low-income cities, relatively few Rogersville residents have a college education, which often lead to better earnings. Just 15% of area adults have a bachelor’s degree, roughly 10 percentage points less than the comparable state rate and half the national rate.

Source: cityofsanbenito.com

43. San Benito, Texas

> Town median household income: $26,158

> State median household income: $53,207

> Town poverty rate: 38.7%

> Town population: 24,486

Adults with greater educational attainment often earn higher salaries than those without a college degree. In San Benito, the poorest town in Texas, fewer than one in 10 adults have at least a bachelor’s degree — about a third of the comparable national bachelor’s degree attainment rate.

A smaller college-educated population is not the only obstacle to higher incomes in San Benito. For a variety of social and historic reasons, black and Hispanic populations tend to face greater challenges to upward income mobility than white residents in the United States, and nearly 94% of San Benito’s population are either Hispanic or Latino.

Source: Courtesy of Edgar Zuniga Jr. via Flickr

44. South Salt Lake, Utah

> Town median household income: $37,083

> State median household income: $60,727

> Town poverty rate: 26.8%

> Town population: 24,501

A poor section of Salt Lake City, South Salt Lake is also the poorest town in Utah. Not only are incomes lower in South Salt Lake than anywhere else in the state, but 27% of area residents live in poverty — at least 7 percentage points higher than the poverty rate of any other small town in Utah. As in many other towns on this list, adults in South Salt Lake are less likely to have completed high school or have a bachelor’s degree than adults across the state as a whole.

45. Newport, Vermont

> Town median household income: $30,101

> State median household income: $55,176

> Town poverty rate: 26.0%

> Town population: 4,493

Situated in northern Vermont, just south of the Canadian border, Newport is home to fewer than 5,000 people. With a median household income just over $30,000 a year, Newport is also the poorest town in the state. The town’s 26.0% poverty rate is more than double the statewide 11.5% poverty rate.