Experts ‘cautiously optimistic’ about New Mexico’s child poverty rate continuing to decrease

New Mexico’s child poverty rate drops significantly when state programs are taken into account

By Leah Romero, Source NM
Oct. 7, 2024

Programs such as refundable tax credits play a major role in lifting New Mexican children out of poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual supplemental poverty measure released in September.

The supplemental poverty measure is released every September at the state and national levels. It considers anti-poverty programs when determining the rate of poverty, as opposed to the official poverty measure, which only considers wage-based income.

“When you look at the supplemental poverty measure, it’s actually measuring the impact of a lot of really strong anti-poverty programs like our tax credits and SNAP programs, and even school lunches are included in that measure. And so it kind of gives us a better sense of basically what a household has in resources,” said Emily Wildau, Senior Research & Policy Analyst/KIDS COUNT Coordinator for New Mexico Voices for Children.

Wildau said the supplemental measure considers the local cost of living along with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs and both state and national tax credits. She said refundable tax credits are shown to have the biggest impact on “lifting kids out of poverty.”

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