Advancing the Promise for Toronto’s Children: Child and Family Poverty Report Card, Toronto 2026

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Executive Summary

Advancing the Promise for Toronto’s Children: Child and Family Poverty Report Card, Toronto 2026 draws on the latest available taxfiler data, from 2023, to reveal the growing and deepening experience of child poverty. One in four children in Toronto is growing up in poverty. The need for action is urgent. As Toronto residents prepare to head to the polls on October 26, this report offers an opportunity to examine child poverty trends, assess progress made to date, and identify the actions needed to reverse course.

Read the Report

2023 marked the third consecutive year of rising child and family poverty in Toronto, signalling a troubling trend. Between 2022 and 2023, child and family poverty increased by 0.4 percentage points to 25.7%. While this increase may appear modest, it represents approximately 1,800 more children who have fallen into poverty. At the same time, the depth of poverty has increased for all low-income family types, but particularly one-parent households, making it more challenging to meet their basic needs.

The report also confirms Toronto’s unfortunate distinction as Canada’s child and family poverty capital. Among large urban centres, Toronto’s child poverty rate is the highest and is a full two percentage points above the next-highest rate, in Winnipeg. Child poverty exists in every ward and concentrated pockets of poverty are spread across the city, particularly in the northwest, in Scarborough, and throughout the downtown core.

In addition to the widespread prevalence of child and family poverty, disparities are prevalent among some population groups. Report findings show that half of all one-parent families live in poverty. This is almost triple the poverty rate of couple families. Further analysis using 2021 Census data show that Indigenous, racialized, immigrant, and newcomer children, as well as children in non-permanent resident households, continue to face disproportionately high rates of poverty. These disparities reflect long‑standing systemic inequities, including discrimination in employment, housing, and access to services, which shape families’ economic opportunities and stability.

These inequities are driven by multiple factors, including the rising cost of living, inadequate income supports, barriers to stable and well-paying employment, economic growth that has not benefited everyone, and limited access to affordable child care. These conditions have lasting impacts on children’s health, education, and long-term opportunities, potentially reinforcing cycles of disadvantage across generations. While recent municipal initiatives have provided critical support, many of the most powerful policy levers to address these challenges sit with the provincial and federal governments, including income supports and broad-scale investments in social infrastructure.

The government has a responsibility to uphold the inherent rights and well-being of Toronto's children, particularly those living in poverty, by ensuring they have what they need to thrive. The promise to Toronto's children is both implicit and explicit, reflected in the expectation that the government will deliver essential public supports, and in the public commitments made through poverty reduction strategies and other policy plans.

Addressing child and family poverty will require leadership and coordinated action from each level of government. This report outlines detailed recommendations for the federal, provincial, and municipal governments. With a systems-level and root-cause framing, these recommendations focus on three approaches to addressing child and family poverty:

• ensure livable incomes and inclusive economic development practices,
• implement a rights-based approach to basic needs and affordability, and
• renew the focus on poverty reduction and systemic inequality.

There is also a role for every Torontonian to play. As the municipal election gears up and residents prepare to vote on October 26, they can ask candidates: “What will you do to reduce child and family poverty in our city—and how will you make sure it actually happens?” 

Key Findings

1. Child and family poverty is worsening, rising for the third consecutive year

• In 2023, one in four (25.7%) children aged 0–17 in Toronto experienced poverty.
• Between 2022 and 2023, child and family poverty in Toronto rose for the third consecutive year, increasing by 0.4 percentage points. This increase was in line with Ontario overall, but double the national increase of 0.2 percentage points.
• Approximately 1,800 more children were living in poverty in 2023, bringing the total to 119,690.
• Since the City of Toronto released its Poverty Reduction Strategy in 2015, child poverty has declined by 3.4 percentage points, from 29.1% in 2015 to 25.7% in 2023. Over this period, rates declined steadily between 2015 and 2020, coinciding with the introduction of the Canada Child Benefit in 2016, before rising each year between 2021 and 2023.

2. Toronto continues to hold the troubling distinction of being the child poverty capital among Canada's largest municipalities

• At 25.7%, Toronto continued to have the highest child and family poverty rate among cities and regional municipalities with populations over 500,000. Winnipeg (23.6%) ranked second, followed by the Region of Peel (21.7%).
• Toronto's child poverty rate was also significantly higher than the provincial rate (19.9%) and national rate (18.3%) as well as other GTHA municipalities.

3. Half of all children in one-parent households live in poverty, and almost all children not in census families live in poverty

• In Toronto, half of all children in one-parent families live in poverty. The poverty rate of children in one-parent families (50.8%) was almost triple the rate of children in couple families (17.2%). The child poverty rate across all census families was 25.3%.
• Research consistently shows higher poverty rates for children in one-parent families headed by women+ compared to those headed by men+.
• Almost all children (98.7%) not in census families experienced poverty in 2023. Although this group accounts for only 1.8% of all children living in low-income households, the poverty rate is concerning.

4. Families are falling further below the poverty line, struggling to make ends meet

• Low-income one-parent families with two children experienced the deepest poverty. On average, these families lived $16,899 below the poverty line for a family of three, an increase of $10,507 since 2015, when the poverty gap was $6,392.
• For one-parent families with one child, the poverty gap more than doubled between 2015 and 2023, increasing from $7,168 in 2015 to $15,155 in 2023.
• More recently, between 2022 and 2023, low-income couples with one child saw the largest increase in the poverty gap, falling an average of $1,474 further below the poverty line. This was followed by one-parent families with two children, whose poverty gap increased by $1,404.

5. Child poverty affects families in every ward, while concentrated pockets of poverty persist across the city

• Nine out of Toronto's 25 wards had a child poverty rate of 30% or more. Toronto Centre had the highest child poverty rate (36.1%), followed by Humber River—Black Creek (35.0%) and Scarborough—Guildwood (34.0%).
• Between 2022 and 2023, child poverty rates increased in 18 of Toronto's 25 wards. Etobicoke Centre saw the largest increase in child poverty, rising 1.3 percentage points from 18.6% to 19.9%.
• Forty-three census tracts had extremely high rates of child and family poverty—between 40.0% and 61.3%.

Learn more about child poverty rates by ward.

6. Child poverty continues to disproportionately affect Indigenous, racialized, immigrant and newcomer children, as well as children living in households without permanent resident status

• The 2021 Census continues to provide the most up-to-date poverty rates for Indigenous, racialized, and immigrant children for the city of Toronto and other local communities, as previously reported in our 2024 Toronto Child and Family Poverty Report Card.
• Indigenous children and families in Toronto had a poverty rate of 20.4%, compared to 14.5% for non-Indigenous children. However, since the Census undercounts Indigenous peoples, this gap is likely larger.
• Racialized children in Toronto had almost double the poverty rate (17.8%) of non-racialized children (9.1%).
• Immigrant children in Toronto had a poverty rate of 21.0%, compared to 12.6% for non-immigrant children. By period of immigration, newcomer children had the highest rate of poverty at 38.1%. Children from families who do not have permanent residence had an even more alarming rate of poverty of 42.6%.

Taking Action

2026 is a municipal election year. Now is the time to invite candidates to share their vision for a better, more equitable city. Download our Take Action sheet, which includes questions to ask your Toronto City Council Candidates.