New Poverty Data Highlights Current Realities Facing CA Children and Families

During this holiday season, data just added to kidsdata.org remind us that many California children and families struggle to make ends meet. Poverty data for 2009 indicate that one in five children in California lives in a family with household income below the federal poverty level of $21,756 for a family of four.

Overall, the percentage of children in poverty in the state had declined from 2003 to 2007, but rose in 2008 — and again in 2009. Children of certain ethnicities/races are more apt to experience poverty than others; in 2009, about 30% of African American, Native American, and Latino children lived in poverty, compared to about 10% of Asian American and Caucasian children.

The highest rates of poverty in 2009 occurred in Tulare, Kern, and Fresno counties, all of which are in the Central Valley. Nearly one in three children in these counties lives in a family earning below the federal poverty line.

Other poverty related indicators on kidsdata.org include:

• Median Family Income
• Enrollment in the Free/Reduced Cost School Meal Program
• Homeless Public School Students
• See all poverty data>>

Posted by Jordan Handcox

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 7th, 2010 at 10:11 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.