According to US Census Bureau, there were 48.8 million people in 2013 in the US, who made less than $24,000 (23,850 for the year 2014) before tax, which is defined as the poverty line (Wikipedia). The recessions in 2001 and 2008 caused unemployment rates to go higher and stymied the growth of the middle class population and this lead to a wider gap between classes. Even though poverty rate increased drastically in the last decade, the slight drop in 2013 shows optimism.

Using the US Census Bureau data, I decided to create a map of people living below the poverty line by state (For the live version of the map: http://goo.gl/qwI8yc). Looking at the map above, we observe that New Mexico has the highest poverty rating with 21.9% and New Hampshire the lowest with 8.7%.

Comparing that years to 2012 numbers, the highest increase was in New Mexico with 1.1%, followed by Montana with 1%. On the other hand, highest decrease in poverty was in Wyoming with 1.7% and New Hampshire with 1.3%. It is almost as if states that are in a good shape are improving and those not doing too well are getting worse.