Poverty is defined as a lack of monetary resources necessary to meet basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. Poverty is a pervasive problem that has devastating consequences for children and is associated with physical, emotional and mental health issues that persist into adulthood. Living in poverty creates trauma for children and makes it extremely difficult for them to focus on school. Students from low-income families often go to underfunded/high-poverty schools and have access to fewer of the resources they desperately need to mitigate the effects of poverty. All children deserve a high-quality, equitable education and the opportunity to reach their full potential. It is a critical issue concerning children’s health and must be addressed in the context of public education.
Within the US, NC has a child poverty rate of 17.4%, the 14th highest in child poverty in the nation. Our overall gross domestic product (GDP), an indicator of a state’s overall economic strength, where NC ranks 11th highest in the US. Like the US, our state can do much more to address child poverty.
Factors contributing to child poverty in North Carolina:
- Race and ethnicity: Children of color are three times more likely to be in poverty than white children.
- Age: Young children are more likely to be in poverty than older children.
- Geography: Rural counties have higher poverty rates than urban counties.
- Cost of living: The cost of living and other expenses vary by region.
- Tax and social safety net policies: Changes in these policies can impact poverty rates.
Child poverty statistics for North Carolina:
- About 400,000 children in North Carolina live in poverty.
- The youngest children are the poorest, with 22% of children under five living in poverty.
- The counties with the highest child poverty rates are Scotland, Halifax, Robeson, Tyrrell, and Allegheny.
- The counties with the lowest child poverty rates are Orange, Wake, Union, Currituck, and Gates.
In 2024, 1 in 7 people in North Carolina, or 14% of the state’s population, were food insecure, according to Feeding America NC. This amounts to 1,493,870 people, including 448,460 children (1 in 5 children). NC is the 10th highest in the nation with 600,000 households being food insecure (not having enough food to eat in the house).
- Black and Latinx households are more likely to experience food insecurity due to structural racism.
- Households with children are more likely to have difficulty putting enough nutritious food on the table.
- Households headed by single mothers are more likely to experience food insecurity.
As child poverty has grown in NC, it has also become more concentrated. Children who grow up in high-poverty communities have less access to resources such as high-quality education. And as poverty has become more concentrated, schools have become more segregated by income and race.
More than a quarter (~400,000) of the state’s public school students attend high-poverty schools (843 schools). A high-poverty school is defined as schools where 75% or more students are eligible for subsidized school meals.These schools often have the least experienced and lowest-paid teachers as local communities lack the resources to provide extra resources or salary supplements. To compound the problem, students clustered in high-poverty schools often need an extra boost to succeed, which requires funding that our legislature hasn’t yet provided.
View more information about counties.
There are research-based ways to address the problems of child poverty to promote positive educational and health outcomes. A high-quality early foundation for learning is critical for later success for school and beyond. North Carolina has two high-quality statewide programs: Smart Start and NC Pre-K. However, limited budgets for both programs mean that neither program is serving as many students as are eligible. Thousands of poor children lack adequate early childhood services and education. Additionally, state budgets have failed to fund pay increases for early educators, teachers who often struggle to get by on poverty-level wages.
The negative effect of poverty and food insecurity on children’s readiness to learn and later educational and life outcomes is well-documented as are the benefits of strong educational systems to the economic health of communities. The NC Budget & Tax Center has created economic snapshots that provide key economic and social indicators for all 100 counties in North Carolina, along with a comparison to state-level data, with measures for employment, poverty and income, affordable housing, health, education, and more. The interactive map below provides the NC Poverty Rates by County and reveals how poverty rates vary dramatically by county across the state. Another resource for statistics on children, youth, and families in NC come from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and NC Child. Another important resource for poverty statistics is the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2018-2022, Table S1701. The time period for this measure includes a range of years because this data is only available for every county as a 5-year average.
As a state, North Carolina has fiscal resources to do more. We have the constitutional and moral obligation to do more. Watch our webinar with Gene Nichol and Heather Hunt discussing their report on Child Poverty: The Persistent and Pervasive Challenge of Child Poverty and Hunger in North Carolina
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9wJtgTBnNE