New Hampshire has the lowest child poverty rate in the country. That’s according to new numbers released by the Census Bureau.
In the United States, the poverty line works out to less than $23,000 a year for a family of four—that means two parents and two children. And fewer than one out of eight New Hampshire kids are living below that line. That’s good news. But Carsey Institute researcher Jessica Bean says the same family of four with even twice that income—close to $46,000—is still struggling.
“Well over a third of the children living in the Northeast are living in families whose income is below twice the poverty line," Bean says. "And it’s just about slightly under half of all children in the United States.”
In this, New Hampshire still has the best numbers in the country, with less than 30 percent of kids in low-income or poor families. But the state’s also seen an increase in this larger group over the years—six percent since before the recession hit. That’s a slightly higher uptick than the Northeast or the United States as a whole.
