Definition: Estimated percentage of children ages 0-17 living in families with resources below their California Poverty Measure (CPM) threshold, by employment status of oldest person in family (e.g., in fall 2021, among California children in families in which the oldest person was unemployed, 21% lived in poverty, according to the CPM).
Data Source: Public Policy Institute of California & Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality, California Poverty Measure (May 2023).
Footnote: Due to changes in methodology, caution should be taken when comparing data for fall 2021 with 2017-2019 and earlier; see technical appendices for fall 2021 and earlier years for detailed information. The California Poverty Measure (CPM) is an approach to gauging poverty in California that accounts for geographic differences in the cost of living, factors in tax credits and in-kind assistance that augment family resources, and subtracts medical, commuting, and child care expenses. In CPM estimates, a family consists of a householder residing with their spouse, children, and other relatives, along with their unmarried partner, unmarried partner's children, foster children, and other unrelated children. A person is unemployed if they are age 16 or older, available to start a job, and actively looking for work. People not in the workforce are those who are neither employed nor unemployed; this category consists mainly of students, homemakers, retirees, seasonal workers in an off season, institutionalized people, and those doing only incidental unpaid family work.
