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SANTA FE — The poverty rate in New Mexico, unlike the nation as a whole, remained unchanged last year and it continued to rank among the worst in the country, the Census Bureau reported.

New Mexico also saw no change in rankings nationally for its high rate of uninsured residents, but median household income in the state improved.

The report was released on Aug. 28.

About one in five New Mexicans, or 21 percent, lacked health care insurance during a three-year average for 2004-06. Only Texas was worse at 24 percent.

Gerry Bradley, research director for New Mexico Voices for Children, a social advocacy group based in Albuquerque, said the number of uninsured New Mexicans was "more than four times the population of Las Cruces."

"This is not a trend that bodes well for the future of our economy," Bradley said in a statement.

Gov. Bill Richardson is expected to offer proposals in next year's Legislature to try to increase health care coverage in the state. In his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Richardson has offered a proposal for universal health care.

Nationally, the poverty rate dropped slightly from 2005 to 2006.

According to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, 18.5 percent of all people in New Mexico lived below the federal poverty level last year. Only two states, Mississippi and Louisiana, and the District of Columbia had higher rates of poverty.

New Mexico's poverty rate and ranking were unchanged from 2005.

During the decade, New Mexico has ranked among the worst in the nation for the share of its population living in poverty. The rate was 18.9 percent in 2002, according to the Census Bureau, and went to 18.6 percent in 2003, 19.3 percent in 2004 and 18.5 percent in 2005.

McKinley County had the highest rate of poverty last year — 44 percent — among smaller counties nationwide, those with populations between 65,000 and 249,999, according to the bureau.

Median household income in New Mexico increased to $40,629 in 2006 from $38,847 in 2005, when adjusted for inflation. Half of the households in the state had income above the figure and half were below.

Nationally, households had median income of more than $48,000 last year.

New Mexico was among 15 states — seven in the West — that had an increase in real median household income from 2005 to 2006, the bureau reported. New Mexico ranked 42nd nationally among states and the District of Columbia in median income. Maryland was first with $65,144.

McKinley County ranked fourth among smaller counties nationally for the lowest household median income, $27,261. The lowest was St. Landry Parish, La., $23,119.