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About Poverty

Nearly 13 million American children live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level, which is $21,200 a year for a family of four.

The number of children living in poverty increased by 11 percent between 2000 and 2006. There are 1.2 million more children living in poverty today than in 2000.
In New York, there are 2,625,548 families, with 4,500,837 children.
20% (914,243) of children in New York State live in poor families (National: 17%), defined as income below 100% of the federal poverty level.