2012 National Child Poverty Rate Stagnates at 22.6 Percent

Stubbornly high poverty rates in the wake of the Great Recession suggest we have not yet "turned the corner" three years after its official end. In 2012, the child poverty rate was 22.6 percent, not statistically different from 2011, but roughly 4.6 percentage points higher than in 2007. There is wide variation in child poverty rates by state and region, with the highest rates in the South and the lowest rates in the Northeast. The largest regional place increase in child poverty both from 2011 to 2012 and 2007 to 2012 was in central cities in the West (up 0.9 and 6.3 percentage points, respectively).