Simplify the following text for a Grade 11 native English-speaking person.
Original: It has the second highest per-capital income ( lower than only the Federal District ) and , with the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina , the highest standard of living in Brazil , despite the poverty in some peripheral parts of the largest cities .
Simplified: With the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul it shares the highest standard of living in Brazil , despite of pockets of blight poverty in its largest cities .