As most Californians know from personal experience, their state has an especially high cost of living, particularly for housing. The Public Policy Institute of California, using a similar methodology, found that nearly a third of Californians are living in poverty or near-poverty. Gavin Newsom and a Democratic Legislature, the state’s poverty rate would climb by more than eight percentage points. There’s another aspect to California’s high living costs and high poverty rates – high levels of debt that have gotten scant media and political attention. California’s unique combination of high living costs, high poverty and high debt makes the state something of a personal finance experiment.

Source: Forbes February 05, 2024 17:43 UTC