Poverty & Economic Well-being

Childhood poverty—especially deep poverty, persistent poverty, and poverty during the earliest years of life—can negatively affect nearly every dimension of child development and well-being, including physical and mental health, social and emotional development, academic outcomes, and eventual labor market success. Despite a steep decline (by 59%) in child poverty from 1993 to 2019, the number of children living in families with insufficient resources to meet their basic needs remains too high.

Data Spotlight

Housing and child care are among the biggest household expenses for many families. Our brief is one of the first explorations of out-of-pocket costs spent on child care by families who receive housing vouchers. Findings show that more than 130,000 households with housing vouchers have been burdened by child care costs since 2017.

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