Schuyler Center’s annual State of New York’s Children Data Bookprovides a data snapshot of the wellbeing of New York’s children and families and the challenges New York families are facing. Having good data is imperative to identifying the right policy solutions.
On January 13, Schuyler Center’s policy team presented the latest data and policy recommendations around child and family wellbeing in New York State.
New York children, over 18%, experienced poverty in 2023
%
of New York children experienced food insecurity in 2023
%
of 2024 reports to CPS were deemed unfounded (93,061)
children received child care assistance in September 2025, a 25% increase from the year prior
In 2023, approximately 731,672 New York children, over 18%, experienced poverty, compared to 16% nationally.
New York State ranks 40th in the nation for child poverty.
The 2021 pandemic expansion of the federal Child Tax Credit dramatically and quickly cut child poverty nearly in half nationally and in New York State. When that expansion and other pandemic supports ended, child poverty rates resurged and surpassed pre-pandemic rates.
Child care is the largest monthly bill for many families, costing an average of:
$3,149 per month for an infant and a 4-year-old in a child care center ($37,782 per year)
$1,368/month for an infant in family- based child care ($16,415 per year)
$2,217/month for two school-age children in family-based afterschool care ($26,598 per year)
The average wage for a child care worker in New York $37,675/annual / $18.11/hour.
Family child care educators, a workforce that is 94% women and largely people of color, earn less than 96% of occupations statewide.
According to the NYS Office of Children and Family Services, approximately 168,600 children received child care assistance in September 2025. In contrast, there are more than one million New York children eligible for child care assistance.
The percentage of Medicaid-Enrolled New York children who had at least one dental visit within the last year exceeded 50% just once in the last decade.
Medicaid and Child Health Plus cover 44% of all NYS children and nearly 80% of children in poverty.
Over 143,000 New York families were subjected to CPS investigations in 2024.
75.9%(93,061) of reports filed with the Statewide Central Register in 2024 were unfounded.
On January 14, Schuyler Center’s policy team presented the latest data and policy recommendations around child and family well-being in New York State (see photos below).
Schuyler Center’s annual State of New York’s Children Data Bookprovides a data snapshot of the well-being of New York’s children and families and the challenges New York families are facing. Having good data is imperative to identifying the right policy solutions.
In 2023, approximately 731,672 New York children, over 18%, experienced poverty, compared to 16% nationally.
New York State ranks 40th in the nation for child poverty.
Public school students experiencing homelessness has increased 22%, with over 138,000 students experiencing homelessness.
The 2021 pandemic expansion of the federal Child Tax Credit dramatically and quickly cut child poverty nearly in half nationally and in New York State. When that expansion and other pandemic supports ended, child poverty rates resurged and surpassed pre-pandemic rates.
Child care is the largest monthly bill for many families, costing an average of:
$3,000/month for an infant and a 4-year-old in a child care center ($35,999 per year)
$1,365/month for an infant in family- based child care ($16,383 per year)
$2,200/month for two school-age children in family-based afterschool care ($26,634 per year)
The average wage for a child care worker in New York $37,970/annual / $18.26/hour in May 2023.
Family child care educators earned less than minimum wage, approximately $10.49/ hour in 2021.
According to the NYS Office of Children and Family Services, approximately 129,000 children received child care assistance in July 2024. In contrast, there are more than one million New York children eligible for child care assistance.
The percentage of Medicaid-Enrolled New York children who had at least one dental visit within the last year exceeded 50% just once in the last decade.
76%(96,641) of reports filed with the Statewide Central Register in 2023 were unfounded.
From poverty reduction to child health, from child care to child welfare, several themes emerged across issues: affordability of housing, child care, food, and other basic needs; inequities based on race, ethnicity, immigration status, and gender holding families back; benefit cliffs and other barriers that keep people from gaining ground; and workforce shortages that impact everyone. These are all systemic problems that require systemic solutions.
We know that investment and improvements in key policy areas can transform lives, increase opportunities, and eliminate barriers to well-being. At a time when families are leaving New York, the right investments can keep families here: learning, growing, playing, working, and contributing to the future of our state.
Healthy children and supported families are the foundation of a thriving society—these are the investments that pay off for everyone, now and for generations to come. No matter the fiscal challenges facing New York State, our children should never be denied the services and supports they need to thrive, especially those children from low-income, Black, brown, immigrant and other historically marginalized communities.
Key Data Points and Takeaways:
Immigration:During the period October 1, 2022 through August 2023, approximately 150,000 immigrants have newly arrived in New York, many fleeing violence in their home countries. Among them are more than 30,000 children, nearly a third of whom are babies and toddlers under the age of five.
Child poverty in New York State exceeds the national rate, as it has for more than a decade. In 2022, approximately 734,756 New York State children, over 18%, experienced poverty, as measured by the Federal Poverty Level. Those rates are significantly higher in many areas around the state—some urban, some rural, some suburban. For instance, nearly 35% of children in Bronx County and more than 28% in Oswego County live in poverty.2 Among the large New York cities with the highest child poverty rates in New York are Syracuse (46%), Rochester (42%), and Binghamton (41%).
Child Tax Credits:New York State has two refundable tax credits for families: the state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Empire State Child Credit. The current structure of both excludes the lowest income families from receiving the maximum credit through their use of an income-based phase-in which results in those most in need of financial support receiving the smallest credit, or none at all. Further, New York’s EITC excludes immigrant taxpayers who file using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) rather than a Social Security Number.
Medicaid for children: Forty-five percent of New York children are covered by Medicaid/CHP. Four out of five low-income children are covered by Medicaid/CHP.
Child Welfare: Over 76.1% of reports to the Child Protective Services State Central Register are unfounded, a determination made only after the child and family have undergone an invasive, stressful, often traumatic investigation.
Child Care educators earn less than 96% of occupations in New York State. A March 2023 survey of child care providers found that staffing shortages greatly diminished programs’ ability to operate at full licensed capacity, with 28,462 licensed or registered slots empty statewide from 1,600 respondents due to insufficient staffing from uncompetitive wages.
Recurring themes: From poverty reduction to child health, from child care to child welfare, several themes emerge across issues: affordability of housing, child care, food, and other basic needs; inequities based on race, ethnicity, immigration status, and gender holding families back; benefit cliffs and other barriers that keep people from gaining ground; and workforce shortages that impact everyone.
One of the key learnings of the last three years is that government policy can make a real and immediate difference in the lives of children and families who are struggling to make ends meet. Three years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we now have the data to show that thoughtful policies, with adequate funding for implementation, can be powerful tools to build a stronger and more equitable state and country. Those policies include tax credits, food assistance, child care supports, and expanded health coverage.
Entering 2023, New York State is at a pivotal moment: armed with compelling data about the policies that meaningfully improved the well-being of New York’s children, what actions will our state leaders take?
“Healthy children and supported families are the foundation of a thriving society—these are the investments that pay off for everyone, now and for generations to come,” said Kate Breslin, Schuyler Center President and CEO. “Our recommendations are rooted in data, and we have more evidence than ever that the right public policies can drastically cut poverty rates in our State and our country.”
Among the key data points in the 2023 State of New York’s Children Report:
Child Poverty in NYS:
New York’s children are more likely to experience poverty than children in the U.S. as a whole: Child poverty in New York State continues to exceed the national rate, as it has for more than a decade.
In 2021, approximately 747,000 New York children, nearly 20%, experienced poverty.
Black and Hispanic children experience poverty at much higher rates, due to structural, historic, and ongoing racism in housing, employment, education, policing, and other systems.
State and federal income and food supports have long protected hundreds of thousands of New York children from experiencing the sharpest impacts of poverty— especially during the pandemic when federal supports were dramatically expanded
With pandemic enhanced supports ending, the number of children experiencing poverty and economic hardship is on the rise.
Policy recommendations for child poverty reduction:
New York State must move toward achieving codified commitment of cutting child poverty by 50% in a decade, with attention to reducing racial inequities.
Priority actions for 2023 include:
1. The Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council should immediately identify and advance budget strategies to significantly cut child poverty this year and measure the Executive and Enacted Budgets regarding their impact toward New York’s commitment to cut child poverty and reduce racial inequities.
2. Strengthen New York’s child tax creditby (a) securing a robust credit for children under age four (a group currently excluded altogether from New York’s credit); (b) restructuring the credit so the highest credit goes to the lowest income families—by ending the state’s regressive minimum income requirement and phase-in; (c) increasing the credit amount to provide families meaningful support; and (d) ensuring the credit continues to be available to as many immigrant families as possible.
Child Care access:
Last year’s increase in income eligibility for child care assistance has made more than 250,000 New York children newly eligible for child care assistance; a potentially life-changing support for these children and families. However, even if a family can afford child care – on its own, or with assistance – finding child care in many communities is a challenge that is growing. Licensed child care capacity in New York State has sharply declined since 2019, particularly in the home-based sector which serves a proportionately high percentage of families receiving child care assistance.
New York’s early childhood educators, 96% of whom are women and 56% who identify as people of color, are paid such low wages they live in poverty at more than twice the rate of New York workers in general. Many cannot afford to remain in the field. New York’s child care workforce is down by 8% compared to the fall of 2019.
Policy recommendations for improving child care access:
Continue to make substantial and concrete progress toward achieving high-quality, culturally-responsive, universal child care.
Priority actions for New York State in 2023 include:
1. Establish a Quality Child Care Workforce Compensation Program.
2. Continue to incrementally expand access to high-quality child care to more families, prioritizing low-income families; families from historically underserved communities, and families facing complex needs.
3. Ensure the New York State Child Care Availability Task Force is convened and acts quickly and boldly to develop and implement a plan for Universal Child Care in the state.
The Child Welfare system:
New York’s child welfare system currently operates in ways that disproportionately involve, investigate, and separate Black and Latino children and families. Specifically, Black children are nearly twice as likely as white children to be reported to the State Central Register (SCR); more than twice as likely to be in indicated reports; and over five times more likely to be placed in the child welfare system.
Most children who are separated from their families and placed in the child welfare system are removed from their homes without receiving preventive services.
Policy Recommendations for transforming child welfare:
Transform the Child Welfare System by investing in family strengthening, prevention of system-involvement, reducing institutional placements, and transparency and accountability of the system.
In 2023 it is imperative that New York:
1. Invest in community-based primary prevention services. Primary prevention services address basic economic, health, housing, child care, education, and social needs, and do not require a family to be involved in the child welfare system to gain access.
2. Increase New York State’s portion of funding for child welfare preventive services from 62% to 75%.
3. Reduce the number of children in institutional placements, including emergency placements, and expedite reunification.
4. Collect, publicly report, analyze, and take action to address systemic complaints in the child welfare system.
Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy (SCAA) is a leading statewide, nonpartisan, policy analysis and advocacy organization based in Albany. SCAA works to shape policies to improve health, welfare, and human services for all New Yorkers, especially children and families impacted by poverty and inequitable systems. Learn more at www.scaany.org
For many New York families, 2021 brought critical public supports, including a third federal pandemic stimulus payment and an expanded monthly child tax credit, buffering many from the pandemic’s sharpest economic impacts. Yet, New York families and children are not out of jeopardy. In December 2021, both the US Surgeon General and the American Academy of Pediatrics sounded the alarm about an escalating mental health crisis facing the nation’s youth. With COVID resurging, parents are once again juggling work with remote schooling, child care closures, and quarantine, and worrying anew about how to keep their children—particularly young children ineligible for vaccines—safe. Despite the challenges, as the data in this book show, there is good reason to believe that with continued strong public health measures; effective, equitable government interventions; and a bold, innovative rebuilding strategy, the future for New York children is bright.
Much of the data in our 2022 book is encouraging. Over 70% of New Yorkers are fully vaccinated, compared to the national average of 62%. The stimulus payments and expanded federal child tax credit kept child poverty from rising; unemployment rates are nearing pre-pandemic levels; public health insurance coverage filled the gaps for many who otherwise would have lost coverage; and many families were saved from eviction by the moratorium. These successful policies underscore the importance of public intervention in improving the well-being of children and families.
The data also underscore the areas of challenge facing the state. Racial disparities persist: in COVID-19 fatalities, parental mental health, maternal and child health, and child welfare. Gender and racial disparities persist in unemployment rates and income. Families continue to struggle with food insecurity and lack of access to health, mental health, and child care. The public, private, and community-based human services that support children and families are experiencing a dire workforce crisis due to historical underfunding, compounded by the impacts of the pandemic. Child poverty rates in New York remain far higher than the national average.
While many of the public policies that have helped families navigate this last tumultuous year are temporary, they show us the way forward. With strong family-focused initiatives, like fully refundable tax credits; high-quality child care and pre-K; paid family leave; fair wages; and access to home visiting, early intervention and mental health care, New York children and families can emerge from the pandemic healthier, stronger, and set up to thrive.
The State of New York’s Children 2022 data briefing, presented by the Schuyler Center for Advocacy and Analysis, will be held onJanuary 11 at 9:30am. Register for this virtual event.
As one of New York’s oldest and most experienced policy nonprofits representing the interests of New York’s children and families impacted by poverty, Schuyler Center’s policy experts will present the data to explain and support 2022-23 policy priorities, focused on solutions to the systemic barriers that keep many NYS children and families from thriving.
Each year, State lawmakers, reporters, and non-profit leaders attend The State of New York’s Children event not only for the data, but also for the recommended policy solutions to address the needs of New York’s children and families, especially those impacted for poverty and inequity.
The briefing will include data on: child care availability and accessibility, child poverty, health, child and parent mental health, pandemic impact on children and families, maternal-infant supports, and child welfare. The State of New York’s Children Data Book will be available following the briefing.
Among the key data points Schuyler’s policy team will discuss:
Efforts to address child poverty must address racial inequity head on. Black and Hispanic or Latino children are more than twice as likely to live in poverty than their non-Hispanic white peers.
New York State provides tens of thousands of children and families supportive child welfare services to prevent family separation. However, most children who are admitted to foster care are removed from their homes before their family has received these services.
Prior to the pandemic, 64% of NY families lived in communities with insufficient child care capacity; in 2020, statewide licensed capacity shrunk by more than 9,500 spots, meaning more waitlists and hard choices for working families.
NYS has long been a leader in providing health insurance for children, but the 22.3% of New York children aged 3-17 who have a mental, emotional, developmental or behavioral problem, have problems accessing care. Even as the pandemic’s toll on children’s mental health increases, almost half of families found obtaining mental health care for their children to be somewhat or very difficult.
Since the pandemic began, access to the internet and devices has become an essential lifeline for participating in online school, attending appointments with doctors and social workers, and working remotely. Yet, 6% of NYS students have insufficient internet access and 8% do not have access to a dedicated computing device.
Back in 1872, Louisa Lee Schuyler gathered data by organizing visiting committees of citizens to inspect the almshouses and poorhouses of each of the 60 counties of NYS, and submitted reports to State representatives. Her work was the foundation for the organization that is now the Schuyler Center. While the approach to research has changed over the past 150 years, Schuyler Center has remained rooted in advocacy on behalf of New York’s children impacted by poverty.
The Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy (SCAA) is a leading statewide policy analysis and advocacy organization based in Albany working to shape policies to improve health, welfare, and human services for all New Yorkers, especially those who are disenfranchised.
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