In the United States, 41 percent of children under 18 are low-income, and 19 percent—roughly one in every five—are impoverished. They comprise 23% of the population but constitute 32% of all needy persons. In addition, many more children are raised in homes with barely over the poverty line earnings.
Being born into a low-income or impoverished household is not by coincidence. Children’s experiences of economic instability are linked to parental education and employment, race/ethnicity, and other variables. The demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic features of children and their parents are described in this fact sheet. It focuses on the key variables separating low-income and underprivileged children from their more advantaged peers.
In the United States, there are 72.4 million children under 18. 41% of those youngsters came from low-income homes. Note that above low income is defined as being at or above 200% of the federal poverty threshold (FPT), below 100% of the FPT, and near-poor as being between 100% and 199% of the FPT. The poor and near-poor are both included in the low-income group.
Is A Low-Income Adequate to Maintain a Family?
According to research, families require an income almost double the federal poverty level to cover their most necessities. Yet, low-income families have payments that are less than this amount:
- A family of five with two children would pay $48,678.
- $38,636 for a three-person household with one child.
- $33,086 for a two-person home with one child.
These figures represent the typical minimum income required for families to make ends meet, but actual expenditures vary substantially by location. For example, in 2014, providing basic requirements for a household of four costs roughly $85,800 annually.
The number of low income children fell from 45 percent in 2010 to 41 percent in 2016, having peaked at 46 percent in 2012. (Figure 2). The total number of children of all ages fell from 74.1 million to 72.4 million between 2010 and 2016. In addition, the number of low-income children fell from 33.2 million to 29.8 million, the number of poor children fell from 16.8 million to 14.0 million, and the number of children living in deep poverty, defined as earning lesser than 50% of the federal poverty line, fell from 8.1 million to 6.2 million.
How Do Children’s Poverty Rates Relate to The Rest of the Population?
The proportion of low-income children under 18 outnumbers the proportion of low-income adults. Furthermore, youngsters are twice as likely as adults 65 and older to be impoverished. The rates of low-income and impoverished children under 18 are 41% and 19%, respectively. However, there is fluctuation by age group.
Different Percentage of Children from Low-Income Homes Based On Race/Ethnicity?
The proportions of low-income and impoverished children under 18 differ by race and ethnicity: Hispanics account for the majority of low-income and impoverished children (36%, or 10.5 million) (36 percent, or 5.0 million).
Children of color, American Indians, and Hispanics have a disproportionately low incomes and are impoverished.
What Are the Features of Low-Income and Impoverished Children’s Families?
Children with a full-time, year-round working parent are less likely to live in a low-income home than children with part-time/part-year employed or unemployed parents. Nonetheless, many low-income and impoverished children have working parents. About half of low income kids (53.5%) and 32.0 percent of poor children live with at least one parent who works full-time year-round.
Higher parental education reduces the risk of a kid growing up in a low-income or impoverished home. For example, 28 percent of children in low-income homes and 11 percent in impoverished families have one parent with some college or higher education. In contrast, 82 percent of children from low-income households and 50 percent from destitute families had parents with less than a diploma. Simultaneously, a sizable proportion of low-income and disadvantaged households with children are headed by parents with at least some college degree.
One-half of children (55%) in low-income households (16.3 million) and 47 percent of children in impoverished homes (6.6 million) are raised by two parents. Children raised by two parents are far less likely to be poor or low-income than children raised by one or neither parent.
What Percentage of Low-Income Kids Have Health Insurance?
Six percent of low-income children and six percent of impoverished children are uninsured among all children under 18. Low-income and poor children aged 12 to 17 years are more likely to be uninsured than younger low-income and poor children, which is consistent with data demonstrating that older children, in general, are more at risk of being uninsured.
Public insurance programs now cover 40% of all children, an increase from 2010. They reach more economically disadvantaged children than commercial programs, reaching 73% of low-income kids and 84% of poor children.
