Connecticut's poverty rate has climbed back above where it stood before the pandemic, with a new report finding that roughly 385,500 residents, including 91,400 children, were living in poverty by 2025. The increase comes as federal pandemic-era supports have expired and additional cuts to food and health assistance are set to take effect, raising fresh alarm among advocates who track the state's economic health.
The findings come from a report released by CT Voices for Children, a New Haven-based public policy group, which examined poverty trends across the pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-pandemic periods, according to CT Mirror. The group's data shows Connecticut's poverty rate fell from 9.3% in 2019 to 7% in 2021, before climbing to 10.6% by 2025 — a reversal that erased the pandemic-era gains and then some, per the CT Mirror report authored by P.R. Lockhart.
Child poverty followed an even sharper arc. Under the supplemental poverty measure, which accounts for benefits like food and housing assistance, Connecticut's child poverty rate fell from 9.8% in 2019 to just 3.8% in 2021, then rose to 12.5% by 2025, the report found. That trajectory lines up with separate reporting: a report covered by ctvoices.org found the state's overall poverty rate jumped from 8.4% in 2021 to 12.1% in 2022, with child poverty rising from 6.8% to 11.6% over the same span — an increase the report tied to the expiration of pandemic-era federal policies, including an expanded earned-income tax credit and a child tax credit that had provided families up to $300 per child before lapsing. Separately, CT Mirror reported Connecticut's poverty rate at 10.6% in 2025, with child poverty at 12.5%. As ctinsider.com reported, the national supplemental poverty measure had hit an all-time low of 7.7% in 2021, boosted in part by the temporary child tax credit expansion under the American Rescue Plan.
A Temporary Shift Now Reversing
Patrick O'Brien, cited in the CT Mirror report, said the recent swings reflect a historic but temporary shift in public benefits — and that another historic shift, this time in the opposite direction, is now underway. He warned that without some kind of offset, new federal cuts will likely push more residents into poverty, according to the same report.
The report identifies women, Black residents, Hispanic residents, noncitizens, and children as groups more likely to fall into poverty, per CT Mirror's account. It also distinguishes between three measures: the official poverty measure, which tracks pre-tax cash income; the supplemental poverty measure, which adds in benefits like food and housing assistance; and a health-inclusive measure that factors in programs such as Medicaid.
SNAP Losses Already Mounting
CT Voices for Children found that roughly 63,000 Connecticut residents lost SNAP benefits over the past year, the group reported. That figure echoes a separate CT Mirror investigation from August, which put the number at nearly 63,000 — representing 17% of the state's overall SNAP caseload before Congress tightened eligibility rules. That loss was roughly double the 21,000 to 36,000 reduction state social services officials had projected, the outlet reported, and half of those removed over the past year came from just seven municipalities: Hartford, Waterbury, New Haven, Bridgeport, New Britain, Meriden and East Hartford.
The same investigation estimated the SNAP cutbacks have cost Connecticut's economy $155 million over the past year, contributing to the state having the highest food insecurity rate in New England. In response, the Lamont administration used $24 million from a legislative special reserve fund to support Connecticut Foodshare and dedicated $8.5 million this summer to provide $300 grocery store gift cards to an estimated 25,000 residents who lost benefits.
SNAP itself ranks as the fourth-largest poverty-reducing measure in Connecticut, lifting an estimated 48,100 residents, including 15,900 children, out of poverty, according to the CT Voices for Children report relayed by CT Mirror.
Medicaid Changes Loom in 2027
Medicaid will be subject to new work requirements and other rules beginning in 2027, changes the report says could remove roughly 110,000 adults from eligibility. That matters because Medicaid currently reduces Connecticut's poverty rate by 5.2 percentage points, lifting an estimated 189,400 residents, including 72,800 children, out of poverty, per the report's figures.
Social Security remains the state's largest poverty-reducing program by far, reducing Connecticut's poverty rate by 8.5 percentage points and lifting nearly 311,000 residents out of poverty, primarily seniors but also children and working-age adults, according to the report. The report also notes that Social Security could face significant benefit cuts starting in 2032 if its funding shortfall isn't addressed — a long-term risk layered atop the more immediate threats to SNAP and Medicaid.
Economic Headwinds Compound the Pressure
The poverty figures arrive alongside broader signs of strain in Connecticut's labor market. The state had higher-than-national unemployment and increased consumer costs, the CT Mirror report notes, with unemployment hitting 5.2% by the end of June after six consecutive months of increases — a rate tied for the highest in the country, according to a separate CT Mirror report on the state's economy. That same report found that from 1990 to 2025, Connecticut experienced the slowest job growth rate in the nation.
CT Voices for Children's State of Working Connecticut report found that lower-income households were most likely to be affected by this economic instability, warning that higher unemployment poses an immediate major threat to workers' earnings. The group said low- and middle-income families are experiencing the fallout from recent cuts to federal services, rising prices and higher unemployment most directly.
Advocates Push for State-Level Fixes
CT Voices for Children predicts that looming benefit cuts will further increase poverty in Connecticut and argues the state should act now, since the changes are likely to push poverty higher still. The group has called for a state nutrition assistance program modeled after and able to replace parts of SNAP, along with a state-funded public option for healthcare.
Emily Byrne, also cited in the CT Mirror report, said Connecticut faces a choice between allowing federal cuts to deepen hardship and investing to protect residents and strengthen economic security. Gov. Ned Lamont's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to CT Mirror.
Separately, a United Way of Connecticut report found that more than 500,000 households in the state, about 40% of the total, earned below the level needed to comfortably afford essentials in 2022, underscoring how widespread financial strain extends beyond the official poverty line. The CT Voices for Children report also notes that Social Security, the earned-income tax credit and food assistance have historically been the programs most successful at pulling residents out of poverty — a track record now being tested as federal support contracts.
