Toronto & Peel Children Among the ‘Poorest’ in Canada!

June 10, 2026. According to the recent “Child and Family Poverty Report Card (2026)” released by Social Planning Toronto, 1 in 4 children living in Toronto are growing up in abject poverty. The report warns that Toronto holds the troubling distinction of being the “child poverty capital among Canada’s largest municipalities”.

The report reveals that in 2023, 25.7% of Toronto children under the age of 18 lived in poverty, marking the highest child and family poverty rate in Canada. Winnipeg ranked second with a child poverty rate of 23.6%, followed by the Region of Peel at 21.7%.

Toronto’s child poverty rate is significantly higher than the provincial rate of 19.9% and the national rate of 18.3%. It also exceeds those of other GTHA municipalities, including the City of Hamilton (21.1%), York Region (18.6%), Durham Region (17.4%), and Halton Region (13.5%). Furthermore, Toronto’s rate surpassed those of major cities within the surrounding regional municipalities, such as the City of Mississauga (22.8%) and the City of Brampton (21.6%).

“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 childcare,” stated the report. “These conditions have lasting impacts on children’s health, education, and long-term opportunities, potentially reinforcing cycles of disadvantage across generations.”

Child poverty affects Indigenous, racialized, immigrant, and newcomer children more:

 Indigenous children and families in Toronto faced 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 face 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.

Among immigrant groups, newcomer children had the highest poverty rate at 38.1%. Children from families lacking permanent residence faced an even more alarming poverty rate of 42.6%.

One-parent families bear the brunt:  

In Toronto, the poverty rate for children in one-parent families (50.8%) was nearly three times the rate for children in two-parent families (17.2%). The overall child poverty rate across all census families was 25.3%. Children in one-parent families headed by women experienced higher poverty rates than those headed by men.

Families are falling further below the poverty line:  

Low-income one-parent families with two children faced 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 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. One-parent families with two children followed, with a poverty gap increase of $1,404.

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 Center had the highest child poverty rate at 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 Center saw the largest rise, going from 18.6% to 19.9%.

Forty-three census tracts recorded extremely high rates of child and family poverty, ranging between 40.0% and 61.3%.

Recommendations:   

–            The report calls on federal, provincial, and municipal governments to implement measures that guarantee livable incomes for residents.

–            It advises all levels of government to invest in social infrastructure, which includes services and facilities that support community well-being and reduce poverty. This is positioned as a key step in addressing poverty and its impacts.

–            The report also recommends that governments adopt rights-based affordability policies, framing affordability as a right and influencing how housing, food, and other essentials are addressed.

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