The last two recessions have hit low-income families of color hard [View all]

Overview • Read the Report

Summary: The Great Recession and the pandemic recession hit low-income families of color especially hard—pushing many into unemployment, poverty, and housing insecurity. The swift and bold policy response to the pandemic recession helped shelter families from the prolonged hardship that followed the Great Recession. But low-income families of color with children remain disproportionately vulnerable to even more economic insecurity when the next recession strikes.

Nearly 10 million families with children (9.7 million) were economically vulnerable after the last two recessions. In 2025, a low-income family like this of two adults and two children struggles to avoid poverty and housing insecurity with an annual income below $64,300. Some families in this group live in severe poverty, with an annual income of less than $16,075.

Families of color represent more than 6 in 10 (61.1%) of all economically vulnerable families with children. These families are also more likely to have a disabled parent or child and to be headed by women and immigrants.

After more than a decade, low-income families are still recovering from the sharp decline in labor market attachment during the Great Recession that started in 2008. The share of Hispanic families with at least one full-time earner is farthest from what it was in 2007 before that recession began.

https://www.epi.org/publication/the-last-two-recessions-have-hit-low-income-families-of-color-hard-trumps-economic-agenda-will-expose-millions-to-even-more-pain-when-the-next-recession-strikes/