The Child Poverty Rate in Westchester County Just Went Down By 3.4% Points -Why am I Confused?

September 25, 2025 |

#Blog

Pictured above: Limarie Cabrera

Article written by Limarie Cabrera, WCA Director of Data, Operations and Finance

Key Takeaways:

2024 Federal Data is Showing that the Child Poverty Rate in Westchester dropped 3.4 points.
The data for 2024 that WCA has collected is not showing that trend.

Earlier this month, the US Census Bureau released the results from the 2024 American Community Survey (aka “ACS”), an annual survey that captures information about the nation’s everchanging demographics, socioeconomic status, and housing situation. Westchester Children’s Association relies on the American Community Survey for many of its data publications, including the Community Snapshots and the Children By The Numbers Data Bulletin.

The child poverty rate is one of the key measures in this newly released data. According to the American Community Survey, Westchester child poverty rate was estimated to be 7.7% in the year 2024. In comparison, the 2023 Westchester child poverty rate was estimated to be 11.1%. The 3.4 percentage point difference is considered statistically significant (meaning that this wasn’t just a random fluctuation.). This news should be something to celebrate. This potentially means that an estimated 7,000 children were lifted out of poverty in 2024. Instead of celebrating, I am confused.

The confusion stems from a few things-first of all this reduction in Poverty Rate is not something that we are seeing on the ground from our nonprofit partners in Westchester County. The Poverty Pulse, which WCA launched last November, noted that demand for essential services showed indications of increasing, not decreasing, in 2024. This is also not what we are hearing from our parents who are participating in our Parent Empowerment Groups – they are struggling with paying for their basic needs like food and housing more than ever before.

When we see this conflicting data, we can’t help but think about the recent staffing cuts at the US Census Bureau. There’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to come up with the estimates, so much so that the One Year Estimates are normally released in September, long after the previous year’s data has been collected. During that time period, they conduct data quality checks and determining sample weights, amongst other things. We cannot help but wonder, have the recent federal layoffs have impacted the quality of the estimates?

Of course, it is important to note that the lag in reporting existed prior to any recent layoffs. Poverty Rates released by the US Census Bureau are already a year behind what families are experiencing in real time. That fact alone is the reason why WCA created the Poverty Pulse – to understand families’ economic well-being in the here and now, not last year.

That is why I am concerned that the newly published 7.7% Westchester child poverty rate for 2024, if taken at face value, is going to be the basis of some poorly informed decisions moving forward. To use a hiking analogy, it’s like deciding that it’s safe for a walk outside based on last year’s sunny weather report when in reality there is a thunderstorm right outside your door. Our current 2025 Poverty Pulse data (Q2 is now available) is showing indications of a economic thunderstorm – we’re are seeing a rise in demand for essential services from the majority of organizations that provide data to us.

What are you hearing from the ground? And are you sharing the same concerns? I would love to hear from you!