SURVEY: Dakotas Among Best and Worst Poverty Rates in Region

(NPN) -- One Dakota has the best poverty rate in the region and one of the best in the nation. The other Dakota has the worst poverty rate in the region but fares OK nationally.

Care to guess which Dakota is which?

According to statistics compiled by the nonpartisan Spotlight on Poverty Opportunity, North Dakota leads the Northern Plains with a poverty rate of 11.2 percent. Meanwhile, the other Dakota, South Dakota, has the second highest poverty rate in the region at 13.4 percent.

Statistics were compiled based on 2012 census and other data.

Nationally, New Hampshire has the best poverty rate at 10 percent while Mississippi has the worst at 24.2 percent, according to the group.

Spotlight’s poverty rankings for Northern Plains states: 1. North Dakota, 11.2 percent; 2. Minnesota, 11.4 percent; 3. Wyoming at 12.6 percent; 4. Iowa at 12.7 percent; 5. Nebraska, 13 percent; 6. South Dakota, 13.4 percent; and 7. Montana, 15.5 percent.

South Dakota's poverty rate has fluctuated from a low of 11 percent in 2000 to a high of 14.4 percent in 2010.