Augusta ranks in top 10 for neediest cities. Child poverty, food insecurity among problems

Miguel Legoas, Augusta Chronicle
·1 min read
FILE - Volunteers help prepare food at The Master's Table Soup Kitchen with Golden Harvest Food Bank in downtown Augusta on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. Local organizations like Golden Harvest can help the many hungry families that make Augusta one of WalletHub's neediest cities.
FILE - Volunteers help prepare food at The Master's Table Soup Kitchen with Golden Harvest Food Bank in downtown Augusta on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. Local organizations like Golden Harvest can help the many hungry families that make Augusta one of WalletHub's neediest cities.

Christmas is already a popular time for giving back to those in need and WalletHub recently provided some extra incentive.

The personal finance platform recently published an analysis of more than 180 cities throughout the U.S. to find the neediest and Augusta is among the top 10.

The cities were evaluated based on two areas of interest: "Economic well-being" and "health and safety." Each were broken up into several sub-categories and given different weighted scores. Here are the 10 cities that scored worst overall:

  1. Detroit

  2. Brownsville, TX

  3. Fresno, CA

  4. Gulfport, MS

  5. Cleveland

  6. Laredo, TX

  7. Jackson, MS

  8. Corpus Christi, TX

  9. Little Rock, AR

  10. Augusta

Augusta received an overall score of 51.76. The city particularly suffered from a financial standpoint, ranking fifth worst for economic well-being, 17th in child poverty and 37th in adult poverty. Augusta was also among the top 30 for food insecurity and unemployment rates.

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FILE - Augusta has a serious problem with unemployment and food insecurity, according to WalletHub. Garden City Rescue Mission, whose pantry is pictured here, is one of multiple organizations that are looking to help with these issues.
FILE - Augusta has a serious problem with unemployment and food insecurity, according to WalletHub. Garden City Rescue Mission, whose pantry is pictured here, is one of multiple organizations that are looking to help with these issues.

For those wanting to help with these issues, here are some local organizations and programs that can help those in need in the Augusta area:

Meanwhile, here are the 10 cities that showed the least amount of neediness:

  1. Overland Park, KS

  2. Pearl City, HI

  3. Bismarck, ND

  4. Columbia, MD

  5. Irvine, CA

  6. Madison, WI

  7. Huntington Beach, CA

  8. Fremont, CA

  9. Fargo, ND

  10. South Burlington, VT

For more information on its neediness study, go to wallethub.com.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Augusta ranks among neediest cities, according to WalletHub