CT Voices for Children: State Poverty Rate Surpasses Pre-Pandemic Level
CT Voices for Children, a New Haven policy group, released a report Tuesday finding Connecticut's poverty rate rose to 10.6% in 2025, up from 7% in 2021 and above the 9.3% pre-pandemic level in 2019, as temporary pandemic-era benefit expansions expired. Child poverty saw the sharpest reversal, falling to 3.8% in 2021 before climbing back to 12.5% by 2025. The report warns that upcoming federal cuts, including new Medicaid work requirements and other eligibility rules taking effect in 2027, could remove roughly 110,000 adults from Medicaid and further increase poverty, alongside SNAP losses that have already affected about 63,000 residents. Women, Black and Hispanic residents, noncitizens, and children face disproportionate risk as these changes take hold.