Fewer people were in poverty in California in 2021 than in 2019. That’s the good news. The bad news is that this was due only to government relief payments, not to an improving economy or more job opportunities.
The Public Policy Institute of California and the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality found that about 4.5 million Californians live in poverty, at or below $36,900 for a family of four. Researchers arrived at this estimate using the California Poverty Measure, which considers California-specific factors including housing costs and government assistance. Using this measure, researchers found that poverty in the state fell from 16.4% in 2019 to a projected 11.7% in the fall of 2021.
The programs helping to lift people out of poverty included the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, the federal Child Tax Credit, CalFresh, CalWORKs and the California Earned Income Tax Credit.
