Report shows New Mexico’s efforts to combat childhood poverty are making a difference

By Daniel Montaño, KUNM FM
Sept. 15, 2024

For the first time, a federal report breaks down New Mexico’s child poverty rate after anti-poverty measures like tax credits and food assistance are taken into account.

Advocates said it’s a number the state can be proud of.

Before those anti-poverty measures are accounted for, the Land of Enchantment comes in dead last in the nation for child poverty with a rate of more than 27%, far outpacing the national average of about 17%.

But the new report from the U.S. Census Bureau shows the rate after accounting for those state interventions — known as the “supplemental poverty measure” — drops to just under 9%.

That’s actually below the national average, and brings New Mexico from last, to 22 in the country.

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