Every September, the Census Bureau releases annual data from the American Community Survey, a survey of millions of households across the country. This year CCC analyzes the 2019 figures to show how rising economic inequality created a number of vulnerable conditions for children in low-income households – risks which COVID-19 has exposed.

n 2019, the richest quintile of New Yorkers earned seven times more annual income than those in the bottom quintile. The increasingly uneven distribution of incomes created deeply entrenched inequities, increasing the health, housing, education, and safety risks to low-income children during the pandemic.

Continuing a dispiriting rise over the last decade, incomes for New Yorkers at the top of the economic ladder continued to outpace those at the bottom in 2019. The consequences of rising income inequality hit families of color and single mothers the hardest, exacerbating deep vulnerabilities for children from low-income households.

CCC’s analysis shows how extreme inequality reproduces economic, health, housing, education, and digital inequities, posing immense risks to the well-being of low-income children and barriers to their economic mobility.
Download the fact sheet to learn more.