Editor's Note: This story's headline has been updated to correct a number.
Childhood poverty rates in Wyoming are some of the lowest in the country. But that would be a different story if some public programs weren’t in place, according to a new study from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Six percent of kids in Wyoming lived in poverty from 2022 to 2024, which translates to about 8,000 children in the state, according to the report. That’s a one percent drop from COVID-era rates from 2019 to 2021, when roughly a thousand more kids fell into that bracket. It’s also significantly lower than the most recent national average of 13%.
“Our numbers were lower than the rest of the nation’s, but that does not mean [poverty] does not exist in Wyoming,” said Micah Richardson, associate director of policy at the Wyoming Women's Foundation, which operates under the umbrella of the Wyoming Community Foundation.
The Wyoming Community Foundation partners with the Casey Foundation, which focuses on the well-being of children and families around the country and works with organizations doing aligned work in each state.
From Richardson’s perspective, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly why Wyoming’s child poverty rates have gone down in recent years, while others around the country have increased after pandemic-related assistance phased out.
She said Wyomingites returning to work earlier may have played a role, along with income from the state’s natural resources.
“ We had all of these supports during COVID, which were incredibly helpful to families, and then when those went away,” said Richardson. “I think our oil and gas was pretty stable … The economics that we rely on in Wyoming, were they a little less touched than some of the economics in other states?”
The report uses the U.S. Census Bureau’s supplemental poverty measure as its metric, which takes into account costs like housing, taxes and childcare. That’s opposed to the country’s official poverty measure, which has a threshold primarily based on the cost of food.
The Casey Foundation study also found that without programs like child tax credits, housing subsidies and food assistance like SNAP, that current rate of 6% of kids in poverty in Wyoming would more than double to 14%. That would mean an additional 9,000 kids in poverty in the Equality State.
According to Richardson, the report factored in a bunch of other programs and policies in that calculation: earned income tax credits, Social Security, supplemental security income, WIC, the National School Lunch program, the Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP), unemployment, child support and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), as well as workers’ compensation and emergency broadband benefits.
“ I just can't even imagine what things would be like for families without those,” said Richardson. “The programs that are in place to support families are really incredibly helpful and they do keep a large number of families who are in poverty afloat, [and] help them make ends meet every month. ”
Many of those policies are being impacted by the Trump administration’s spending bill passed in July and the ongoing federal government shutdown. The maximum child tax credit, which briefly increased during the pandemic, will increase from its current rates of $2,000 to $2,200 per eligible child in 2026. However, at least one taxpayer claiming the credit must now have a Social Security number, impacting families of mixed immigration status, and lower-income families may not be able to access the full value of the credit.
LIEAP is a federal program that helps low-income people pay bills to heat their homes. It’s currently on pause because of the shutdown, which could impact thousands of Wyomingites this winter.
On Nov. 3, the Trump administration announced it will partially fund SNAP benefits this month with contingency funds, after money for the program expired at the start of the month because of the shutdown. The announcement came as two federal judges ruled the administration must fund the program in full.
That money hasn’t been released in Wyoming yet, according to Wyoming Department of Family Services Public Information Officer Kelly Douglas, in an email to Wyoming Public Radio on the afternoon of Nov. 4.
On Halloween, Gov. Mark Gordon declared a public welfare emergency and authorized the state to spend up to $10 million to make sure Wyomingites continue to have access to food during the shutdown. That money will be distributed to organizations and churches running food banks and food pantries across the state, and could be transferred by this weekend, according to a Tuesday press release from the Wyoming Department of Family Services.
