The Persistence of Poverty in New York City

This is the fourth in a continuing series of reports that document key findings of the Poverty Tracker, a quarterly survey tracking a fixed panel of approximately 2,000 New York City residents. As noted in earlier reports, typical surveys of poverty take an annual snapshot based on the federal government’s official, income-based measure.  The first two reports focused on income, wealth and health. The third report, in spring 2016, focused on prevalence and persistence of severe disadvantage from one year to the next. This report focuses on the dynamics and persistence of income poverty, material hardship and health problems using data from three annual surveys that roughly cover from 2012 to 2014.