Report: Childhood poverty pockets remain in region amid Florida decline

Childhood poverty overall is decreasing in Florida, with a 0.4% decline year over year, according to a new report from the Florida Chamber Foundation. 

Yet this change is happening unevenly, the report says, with 33 counties in the state seeing reductions in childhood poverty and 34 counties reporting increases. A few Gulf Coast counties are seeing positive gains, while some ZIP code-level concentrations of poverty in the region are among the highest in the state.

“These findings reflect forward momentum, but they also illustrate uneven distribution of economic gains regionally across Florida,” the report says.

Statewide, hundreds of thousands of children are living in poverty. According to the report, there were 711,576 Florida children in poverty in 2024, down from 714,768 in 2023. That means that 16.5% of Florida children live in poverty, the report says. The situation is more pronounced among the state's youngest residents, with 18% of Florida children under age 5 living in poverty.

Hillsborough, Manatee and Charlotte counties were among the 10 counties statewide with the most significant drop in numbers of children living in poverty from 2023 to 2024, according to the report. Topping the list was Hillsborough, which saw 3,971 fewer children in poverty year-over-year.

On the flip side, Pinellas County was among the 10 counties with the largest increases in the number of children in poverty, according to the report, with 846 more children in this category in 2024 compared with 2023. 

The 2026 “State of Childhood Poverty in Florida” report was released by the Florida Chamber Foundation’s Florida Prosperity Initiative.

“Structural change doesn't happen at the state level — it happens neighborhood by neighborhood,” the report says. “When we can pinpoint exactly where children are most at risk, we can direct resources, partnerships  and policy with far greater precision.”