Children raised in impoverished environments are at higher risk for a wide variety of health and social problems, including poor performance in school. Racial and ethnic disparities in child poverty rates stem from complex and interrelated reasons. Research suggests they include both historic and modern-day discrimination, as well as public policies that reinforce or do not address racial inequities in income, education, housing and other factors that are critical to economic mobility.

In 2016-20, poverty rates in MetroWest were substantially higher among Hispanic (24%) and African American (17%) children than among white (7%) and Asian (7%) children. Since 2000, the rate decreased among African American children by 2 percentage points, 7 points for Hispanic children and 6 points among Asian children, while the rate for white children increased by 1 point. Compared to Massachusetts, MetroWest's poverty rates were lower for all racial and ethnic groups, but especially among Hispanic children and African American children.

Racial and ethnic disparities existed across each of the region's counties. Poverty rates were highest in Worcester County for Hispanic children at 28%, compared to 22% in Middlesex. For African American children, the poverty rate was highest in Middlesex, at 21%. Sample sizes for individual communities in the region were too small to report reliably.

Large and persistent disparities in poverty rates are the result of historic and current policies and practices that disadvantage people of color. Research has connected slavery and the inability of black Americans even after emancipation to fully participate in economic life to the wealth and income gaps still present today. Poverty crosses generations, resulting in high rates of child poverty rates. Factors include: living in a single-parent household, especially if the single parent is female; having parent(s) who are unemployed, employed and/or underemployed in low-wage jobs or incarcerated; and living in communities that have experienced disinvestment and have ineffective and/or under-resourced schools.

Poverty status is not reported for people in institutions, including college dormitories and military barracks, and people in living situations without conventional housing. The Census Bureau asks people to identify their race (white, African American, etc.) separate from their ethnicity (Hispanic or non-Hispanic). So the totals for these categories cannot be added together, as people show up in both a racial and ethnic group.

The multiyear figures are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The bureau combined 5 years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. However, because the information came from a survey, the samples responding to the survey were not always large enough to produce reliable results, especially in small geographic areas. CGR has noted on data tables the estimates with relatively large margins of error. Estimates with three asterisks have the largest margins, plus or minus 50% or more of the estimate. Two asterisks mean plus or minus 35%-50%, and one asterisk means plus or minus 20%-35%. For all estimates, the confidence level is 90%, meaning there is 90% probability the true value (if the whole population were surveyed) would be within the margin of error (or confidence interval). The survey provides data on characteristics of the population that used to be collected only during the decennial census. Data for this indicator are released annually in December.