The Poorest Town in Florida Is Not What It Looks Like

Florida is the third most populous state in the country, but in some of its towns roughly one in three people lives below the poverty line. This video ranks the 15 poorest incorporated towns and cities in Florida by Census data, and tells what the records say about each one: lost crops and mills, closed schools, prisons and hospitals, failing water systems, and what is being done about it now. How the list was built: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates for 2020-2024. Every Florida city, town, and village with at least 1,000 residents (334 places) was ranked by the share of residents below the federal poverty line. Median household income is shown next to it. Gainesville (a large university city) and one tiny village with an unusable margin of error were left out. Please read this: these are survey estimates, not head counts. Small towns have wide margins of error, so the middle of the list is soft, and several towns are statistically tied. Chattahoochee ranks first because more than half of its residents live in group quarters, not ordinary homes, so its poverty rate does not describe a town of families. The video explains this. Where sources conflict or a fact could not be confirmed, the video says so. Narration is an AI voice. CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro: how the ranking works 2:51 15. Interlachen (Putnam County) 4:18 14. Crescent City (Putnam County) 5:31 13. Arcadia (DeSoto County) 7:38 12. Zolfo Springs (Hardee County) 9:03 11. Pahokee (Palm Beach County) 11:13 10. South Bay (Palm Beach County) 12:47 9. Florida City (Miami-Dade County) 14:17 8. Gretna (Gadsden County) 15:39 7. Jasper (Hamilton County) 17:19 6. Madison (Madison County) 18:57 5. Palatka (Putnam County) 20:32 4. Wauchula (Hardee County) 22:00 3. Quincy (Gadsden County) 23:48 2. Jennings (Hamilton County) 25:24 1. Chattahoochee (Gadsden County) 27:54 What the poorest towns have in common SOURCES Census data: https://data.census.gov (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, tables S1701, S1903, B01003, B26001) and https://www.census.gov/topics/income-... Arcadia: https://www.wusf.org/culture/2014-08-... and https://www.wusf.org/culture/2014-03-... Wauchula and Arcadia state grants: https://www.mysuncoast.com/2025/12/19... Pahokee audit: https://www.wptv.com/wptv-investigate... Herbert Hoover Dike: https://www.wgcu.org/section/environm... Florida City: https://www.floridacityfl.gov/172/Cit... and https://www.wusf.org/politics-issues/... Hurricane Andrew: https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/hu... Jasper: https://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/im... Madison: https://www.wtxl.com/news/madison-cou... Quincy: https://www.tallahasseemagazine.com/?... Jennings: https://timesenterprise.com/?p=212559 Crescent City schools: https://www.wuft.org/news/2021/06/11/... Chattahoochee: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida... and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chattah... Town histories: the Wikipedia pages for each town and county, and city websites where cited. #Florida #FloridaTowns #Poverty