California Poverty Rates Higher than Previously Thought

Twenty-two percent of Californian residents — or 8.1 million — are poor, according to a new study that uses a revised way of calculating poverty. The report by the Public Policy Institute of California and Stanford University also finds that one quarter of California’s children and nearly a third of Latinos, the state’s largest ethnic group, live in poverty. We discuss the “California Poverty Measure” report and what it reveals about the struggles of the state’s poor.

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