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POVERTY TRACKER
Launched in 2012 in partnership with Columbia University, the Poverty Tracker is Robin Hood’s signature, groundbreaking study of poverty in NYC. Unlike other surveys, it explores the impact of poverty, material hardship, and health over time, surveying a representative sample of New Yorkers every three months. While our Poverty Tracker provides critical information on the dynamics of poverty and other forms of disadvantage, our special spotlight reports shed light on timely and nuanced aspects of poverty. Throughout 2023, we released seven Poverty Tracker spotlight reports highlighting experiences of hardship related to child care, the workforce, health and health care, financial shocks, and food insecurity.
A Data-Informed Approach to Fighting Poverty
Policy Advocacy Poverty Tracker data demonstrates that government policy can permanently reduce poverty in NYC, if policymakers choose to act. In 2023, our findings informed our policy recommendations to lawmakers in Albany as we sought population-level changes in poverty rates, including strengthening refundable tax credits for low-income families, increasing compensation for child care providers, and raising the minimum wage for hourly workers.
Thought Leadership In 2023, we debuted a new “Deep Dive” event series that convenes policy experts, community leaders and advocates for in-depth discussions on the most pressing challenges facing NYC and affecting low-income New Yorkers. Poverty Tracker data is a catalyst for many of these topics. In 2023, Robin Hood’s Deep Dive series highlighted child poverty, the affordable housing crisis, the future of the child care workforce, and racial equity.
2024 IMPACT
Poverty Tracker Reports
Our 2024 Annual Poverty Tracker Report revealed sobering realities about the current profile of poverty in NYC:
• 2 million New Yorkers live in poverty. • 1 in 4 children live in poverty. • New Yorkers living below the poverty line are not the only ones struggling to get by. In fact, 56% of all New Yorkers live on incomes below 200% of the poverty line.
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