Poverty rate of kids under 6 eclipses all others

We know it in our gut. Science backs our intuition.

The most crucial years of brain development are the earliest ones, when children are learning everything, soaking up everything in their environment like sponges.

That’s partly why support for pre-K in the Commonwealth has reached the point of broad consensus and why support for quality infant and toddler care is growing—we want all kids to soak up the fundamentals of learning and socialization because we know those lessons can last a lifetime.

Unfortunately, in Southeastern Pennsylvania, far too many children live in poverty and that impact can last a lifetime.

This week, PCCY crunched the numbers in newly released census data and gleaned the latest insight for the region.

In Southeastern Pennsylvania, 153,000 children live in poverty–and half of those are experiencing deep poverty, meaning they live in households with annual incomes of about $10,000.

The story is worse for kids under six (in those critical years of development), who suffer rates of poverty higher than older children. Isolating just that cohort, 56,000 live in poverty and half of those kids are in deep poverty.

Of all counties, Bucks kids under six fared the worst, as their rates of those in both poverty and deep poverty swelled.

But here’s the good news. Across every county, child poverty decreased since last year and the rate of children living in deep poverty is lower everywhere except Bucks.   

Delaware and Philadelphia counties, which have the highest rates of poverty in the region, saw the biggest decreases.

Far too many children across the five counties are burdened by the yoke of poverty, affecting every aspect of their lives. The burden is certainly more pronounced and far more cruel to children under 6.

While we need to continue our efforts to improve educational outcomes to help break the cycle of poverty, there is a clear and urgent need to increase wages and income for their families.