The child poverty rate in New York remains one of the highest in the country and is “alarmingly” high in some cities, according to a report released Thursday by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.
The report found New York’s child poverty rate ranked 41st in the nation in 2022, which was at least six percentage points higher than states that border New York. More than 2.7 million New York residents were living in poverty in 2022 and more than a quarter of them were children, the report said. Almost half of all children living in poverty are in “deep poverty,” meaning they are in a household with income that is 50% below the federal poverty line.
When compared to other U.S. cities with similar population levels, the cities of Albany, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo have child poverty rates that are double the average rate of their cohort cities, the comptroller said. Between 40% and 46% of children in Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo were living in poverty in 2022, and they rank second, fifth, and seventh among the largest cities in the U.S. with the highest rates of child poverty.
The U.S. Census Bureau defines poverty as an individual or household that doesn’t have the financial resources to meet basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter, or access to a minimum standard of living.
“Research shows that poverty presents serious barriers to healthy child development,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “Despite unstable economic conditions during the pandemic, child poverty dropped by half because the government expanded programs to help families and children. When these measures expired, the problem got worse. The state and federal government have the solutions to lift more children out of poverty, and we should act with urgency to use them.”
DiNapoli said the gap in child poverty rates between New York and the nation at large has been widening since 2019.
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