A Southern Colorado county is leading the state in an unhappy statistic.

Nearly one in five people in Pueblo are living in poverty, according to the latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau.

"People are on the edge, and it's just difficult to survive."

Anne Stattelman is the director of Posada, a Pueblo agency that assists homeless people with basic needs like shelter.

From what she has seen this year, she says she's not surprised Pueblo came in at number one.

"I think we've seen this increase through the summer and we don't see it stopping. It's depressing because the work that we're doing to stabilize families seem to not be helping," she says.

Stattelman says the high poverty rate in Pueblo is nothing new, but now she sees families struggling more than ever.

"We can't believe the spike in need."

But what causes Pueblo to have the highest amount of poor people in the state?

One main reason, Stattelman says, the self-sufficiency standard for a family of four states a family should make about 36-thousand dollars a year.

"Our wages here are considerably less, we don't have the kind of jobs here yet."

But County Commissioner John Cordova says the county is working to change that by bringing in companies that would open up more jobs for Puebloans.

"Bringing in people like Vestas does do that...there's going to be 450 well-paying jobs, hopefully filled by Pueblo individuals," says Cordova.

Cordova also credits the high poverty rate in Pueblo to the high drop out rate in schools here.

He feels every department and agency in Pueblo should do what they can so that next year, Pueblo's poverty rate is not as high.

"I think the entire community has to step up and work on this issue."

The U.S. Census Bureau puts the poverty rate in Pueblo at 18.2%.

Number 2 is Denver at 17.7%, and El Paso county came in ninth at a poverty rate of 10%.