– Mississippi has similar GDP per capita ($53061) than Germany ($54291) and the UK ($51075), so why are people in Mississippi so much poorer with a much lower living standard?

Question

I was surprised to learn that poor states like Mississippi have about the same gdp per capita as rich developed countries. How can this be true? Why is there such a different standard of living?

In: Economics

Answer 1

A better indicator would be something like [disposable income](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_capita_income#Mean) on a PPP adjusted basis after adjusting for social transfers in kind.

This has the benefit of adjusting for cost of living and for things like universal healthcare, childcare, education, etc. that Europeans tend to benefit from through tax spend, but Americans do not.

The results are pretty similar, though. Mississippi is simply not as poor as you seem to think.