The poverty rate is the same for all 48 contiguous states.
The poverty rate is based on half the median (a form of average) income, not the cost of living.
If you don't think this is one of the dumbest things ever, and that it makes every program based on it useless, you aren't following along.
It also makes great sounding stats about how some states are "poorer" due to the number of people below the poverty level useless.
