Children raised in impoverished environments are at higher risk for a wide variety of health and social problems, including poor performance in school. Racial and ethnic disparities in child poverty rates stem from complex and interrelated reasons. Research suggests they include both historic and modern-day discrimination, as well as public policies that reinforce or do not address racial inequities in income, education, housing and other factors that are critical to economic mobility.

In 2017-21, poverty rates in Norfolk County were higher among Hispanic (15%) and African American (11%) children than among Asian (8%) and white (5%) children. Since 2000, the rate increased 4 percentage points among Hispanic children, 3 points for African American children, and 1 point for white children. The rate decreased by 1 point among Asian children.

Norfolk County had the lowest rates of poverty among African American children compared to Middlesex (21%), Essex (22%) and the state as a whole (22%). Norfolk also had the lowest rate among Hispanic children compared to Middlesex (21%), Essex (23%), and the state (28%).

Sample sizes for each race/ethnicity in Brookline and comparison municipalities were too small to report reliably.

Large and persistent disparities in poverty rates are the result of historic and current policies and practices that disadvantage people of color. Research has connected slavery and the inability of black Americans even after emancipation to fully participate in economic life to the wealth and income gaps still present today. Poverty crosses generations, resulting in high rates of child poverty rates. Factors include: living in a single-parent household, especially if the single parent is female; having parent(s) who are unemployed, employed and/or underemployed in low-wage jobs or incarcerated; and living in communities that have experienced disinvestment and have ineffective and/or under-resourced schools.

Figures are in constant 2021 dollars. The multiyear figures are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The bureau combined 5 years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. However, because the information came from a survey, the samples responding to the survey were not always large enough to produce reliable results, especially in small geographic areas. CGR has noted on data tables the estimates with relatively large margins of error. Estimates with 3 asterisks have the largest margins, plus or minus 50% or more of the estimate. Two asterisks mean plus or minus 35%-50%, and one asterisk means plus or minus 20%-35%. For all estimates, the confidence level is 90%, meaning there is 90% probability the true value (if the whole population were surveyed) would be within the margin of error (or confidence interval). The survey provides data on characteristics of the population that used to be collected only during the decennial census. Data for this indicator are released annually in December.