A report released Tuesday morning by CT Voices for Children, a New Haven-based public policy group, says poverty in Connecticut fell from 9.3% in 2019 to 7% in 2021 as pandemic-era assistance and stimulus funds were released, then rose to 10.6%, or about 385,500 residents including 91,400 children, by 2025. The report says the shifts largely reflect a historic but temporary change in public benefits and that federal cuts now underway will likely lead to more residents living in poverty if not offset, according to report author and CT Voices research and policy director Patrick O’Brien.
CT Voices report finds Connecticut poverty rate rose to 10.6% by 2025
A report released Tuesday morning by CT Voices for Children, a New Haven-based public policy group, says poverty in Connecticut fell from 9.3% in 2019 to 7% in 2021 as pandemic-era assistance and stimulus funds were released, then rose to 10.6%, or about 385,500 residents including 91,400 children, by 2025. The report says the shifts largely reflect a historic but temporary change in public benefits and that federal cuts now underway will likely lead to more residents living in poverty if not offset, according to report author and CT Voices research and policy director Patrick O’Brien.
The report examines three periods — pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-pandemic — and uses three poverty metrics: the Official Poverty Measure, which looks at pre-tax cash income; the Supplemental Poverty Measure, which adds benefits such as food and housing assistance; and the Health Inclusive Poverty Measure, which includes health-related benefits such as Medicaid.
Using Supplemental Poverty Measure data, child poverty in Connecticut was more than halved during the pandemic, falling from 9.8% in 2019 to 3.8% in 2021. By 2025, that decline was erased, with the rate at 12.5%, the report says. The report says women, Black residents, Hispanic residents, noncitizens, and children are more likely to face poverty or near poverty than the state population as a whole.
The report says the public benefits most in jeopardy are among those with some of the largest effects in reducing poverty in Connecticut. SNAP was the fourth-largest poverty-reducing measure in the state, pulling 48,100 residents out of poverty, including 15,900 children. Medicaid will be subject to new work requirements and other rules in 2027 that could see roughly 110,000 adults removed from eligibility; it was the largest healthcare-related poverty-reducing measure, reducing the poverty rate by 5.2 percentage points and lifting 189,400 residents out of poverty, including 72,800 children.
Social Security, the largest poverty-reducing measure, could also face changes in coming years. If the program’s funding shortfall is not addressed in the immediate future, benefits could be cut significantly starting in 2032, the report says. O’Brien said the program reduced Connecticut’s poverty rate by 8.5 percentage points, lifting nearly 311,000 residents out of poverty, primarily seniors, but also children and working aged adults.
A separate CT Voices for Children report published in August found that roughly 63,000 state residents lost benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the past year, with people losing benefits faster than the state initially expected. The latest report adds data to information about poverty and economic hardship in the state, showing that even before some upcoming federal benefit cuts take effect, a growing number of households are struggling.
CT Voices for Children argues that the potential impact of the federal cuts reinforces the importance of benefit programs more broadly. While the latest report does not make policy prescriptions, the organization has called for a state nutrition assistance program modeled after and capable of replacing parts of SNAP, and a state-funded public option for healthcare. In recent months, the Lamont administration has used money to support Connecticut Foodshare and pledged to issue grocery store gift cards to residents who have lost SNAP, but advocates say a more permanent solution is drastically needed.
- The source does not state the precise calendar date of the report’s release beyond Tuesday morning.
- The source does not state whether the 2025 poverty figures are projections, estimates, or current data.
- The source does not name the federal legislation passed last year or the specific federal benefit cuts.
- The source does not state the report’s methodology, data sources beyond federal and state data, or peer-review status.
- The source does not state how the proposed state nutrition assistance program or state-funded public option for healthcare would be funded or administered.
- The source does not state what response, if any, Gov. Ned Lamont’s office later provided; it did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read the original at CT Mirror