Unfortunately, Pennsylvania is home to the poorest city in the Unites States. The 16501 zip code in Erie, Pennsylvania is not only the poorest zip code in the state, but also the entire country.

According to The Gannon Knight, the 16501 zip code includes the commercial district and West Twelfth Street between Liberty and Holland streets. The city isn't that big. The average amount of residents is only about 1,1418 households, according to Medium. Just so you can get a clear picture of how poor this area is, the average household income is only about 10 thousand dollars. According to Medium, a family of four is considered to be living in poverty when their income hits 25 thousand dollars. It's heartbreaking to think about how families are surviving off of that little money on a yearly basis. And it's been like this for years.

Apparently, in Erie Pennsylvania it's typical for a family's everyday meal to come from McDonalds.

I was looking at the housing prices in Erie, Pennsylvania on Realtor.com, and you can purchase a home for as low as $50,000. I'll be honest, the homes are not the best. A lot of them are barley standing on its last leg, but for some people in the area its a mansion. This is a big difference from Villanova which is the richest zip code in the state. The cheapest home for sale is $2,399,000.

There are a lot of homeless, and the pandemic didn't help one bit. Many families were on the brink of eviction and super close to living on the streets. According to Erie News Now, the city's landlords received about $17.7 million to make up for the close to 25 hundred households who couldn't pay their rent and bills.

I wish there was more that could be done to help this area. It's sad to see any of our fellow Pennsylvanians struggling.

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