The latest Census Bureau numbers show Louisiana's poverty rate dropped from 19.7 percent in 2017 to 18.6 percent last year.
That's dropped Louisiana from the second most impoverished state in the nation to the third. Louisiana Budget Project Executive Director Jan Moller says it's an improvement, but we have a long way to go.
By comparison, the national average in 2018 was 11.8%.
"We are one of, I believe, 14 states that saw an overall decline the poverty rate, so that is excellent news," said Moller.
In 2018 poverty was defined as a single person making under $13,064 a year or less, and a four-person household making $25,701 a year or less.
The child poverty rate in the state declined nearly two points from 28 percent to 26.2 percent, and Moller says the poverty rate for African American children saw a four-point decline.
"We started with an unacceptable number of 47-percent of African American children in Louisiana living below the federal poverty rate," said Moller. "That has dropped to 43 percent, which is still unacceptable, but a number that is moving in the right direction, which is cause for cheers."
That decline has resulted in about 22,000 fewer African American children in poverty.
The report does not give an explanation for why the rate has declined, but Moller has a theory. He says it's the result of the state economy seeing noticeable growth during that period.
"We had this little mini-recession in Louisiana from 2014-2015-2016, but now we are really starting to emerge from that, and our economy is growing," said Moller.
Louisiana ranked behind only Mississippi and New Mexico for the poverty rate in 2018. Seven states had poverty rates of less than 10%.