This interactive tool allows you to explore how changes to housing costs, minimum wage, and the social safety net could affect child poverty statewide and in your county. We find lower housing costs and minimum wage increases could lower child poverty substantially—while helping Californians across the income spectrum. And though investments in California’s safety net would need to draw from the state budget, these approaches could also reduce child poverty considerably—while concentrating resources on vulnerable populations. See the PPIC report Reducing Child Poverty in California: A Look at Housing Costs, Wages, and the Safety Net for more information.

We focus on poverty among young children ages 0–5 using the California Poverty Measure, which—unlike the official poverty measure—accounts for variation in the cost of living and the cash value of safety net benefits. The California Poverty Measure is a joint research effort between PPIC and the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality.