Michelle M. Chau

Who Are America's Poor Children? The Official Story

On the expense side, the official poverty measure does not include the cost of payroll and income taxes or work-related expenses, such as child care and transportation. Nor does it take into account varying family needs, such as the cost of out-of-pocket medical expenses. And finally, the poverty measure does not adjust for the substantial variation in the cost of living from state to state and between urban and rural areas. Who are America’s Poor Children? The Official Story

Basic Facts About Low-income Children, 2009: Children Under Age 18

Children represent 25 percent of the population. Yet, they comprise 36 percent of all people in poverty. Among children, 42 percent live in low-income families and nearly one in every five live in poor families. Young children under age 6 appear to be particularly vulnerable with 46 percent living in low-income and 24 percent living in poor families. Winding up in a low-income or poor family does not happen by chance. There are significant factors related to children’s experiences with economic insecurity, such as race/ethnicity and parents’ education and employment. This fact sheet describes the demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic characteristics of young children and their parents – highlighting the important factors that appear to distinguish low-income and poor children in this age group from their less disadvantaged counterparts.

Basic Facts About Low-income Children, 2008: Children Aged 12-17

Children represent 25 percent of the population. Yet, 41 percent of all children and 36 percent of adolescents ages 12 through 17 live in low-income families. In addition, nearly 20 percent of all children and 16 percent of adolescents live in poor families. Winding up in a lowincome or poor family does not happen by chance. There are significant factors related to children’s experiences with economic insecurity, such as race/ethnicity and parents’ education and employment. This fact sheet describes the demographic, socio-economic, and geographic characteristics of adolescents and their parents – highlighting the important factors that appear to distinguish low-income and poor children in this age group from their less disadvantaged counterparts.

Examining the Landscape of Child Poverty in the US Today

R ecent data from the US Census Bureau indicate that many of our youngest citizens live in poverty; the size of this population has been teadily increasing over time since the 1970s. There s a wide body of research documenting the imporance of family income for children’s health and ell-being. Thus, trends in child poverty suggest that growing share of children today are experiencing ircumstances that are detrimental to their overall ealth and development and that could have lifelong onsequences. In this article we use data from the urrent Population Survey, March Annual Social and conomic Supplements, to describe the prevalence of hild poverty in the US over time and the sociodemoraphic and geographic characteristics of children and heir parents living in poverty. We also expand on berg and Aga’s (2010—see article in this issue) iscussion of the social safety net by providing a etailed illustration of what families need to meet their ost basic necessities and the very real impact work upports and public benefits, such as the Earned ncome Tax Credit and child care assistance, have on family’s budget and net family resources. This nalysis is based on data from the National Center for hildren in Poverty’s Basic Needs Budget Calculator nd Family Resource Simulator, web-based tools that alculate how much families need to afford minimum

Basic Facts About Low-income Children, 2008: Children Under Age 18

Children represent 25 percent of the population. Yet, 41 percent of all children live in low-income families and nearly one in every five live in poor families. Our very youngest children, infants and toddlers under age 3, appear to be particularly vulnerable with 44 percent living in lowincome and 22 percent living in poor families. Winding up in a lowincome or poor family does not happen by chance. There are significant factors related to children’s experiences with economic insecurity, such as race/ethnicity and parents’ education and employment. This fact sheet describes the demographic, socio-economic, and geographic characteristics of infants and toddlers and their parents – highlighting the important factors that appear to distinguish low-income and poor children in this age group from their less disadvantaged counterparts.

Basic Facts About Low-income Children, 2009: Children Aged 12 through 17

Children represent 25 percent of the population. Yet, they comprise 36 percent of all people in poverty. Among children, 42 percent live in lowincome families and 21 percent live in poor families. Among our oldest children, adolescents aged 12 through 17, 38 percent live in low-income families and 17 percent live in poor families. Winding up in a lowincome or poor family does not happen by chance. There are significant factors related to children’s experiences with economic insecurity, such as race/ethnicity and parents’ education and employment. This fact sheet describes the demographic, socio-economic, and geographic characteristics of adolescents and their parents, highlighting the important factors that appear to distinguish low-income and poor children in this age group from their less disadvantaged counterparts.