FACT SHEET Basic Facts about Low- Children Children under 9 Years, 2016

Heather Koball | Yang Jiang January 2018

Among all children under 18 years in the U.S., 41 percent live in low- Contents: income families and 19 percent—approximately one in five—are poor. 1. Trends This means that children are overrepresented among our nation’s poor; 2. Federal threshold (FPT) they represent 23 percent of the population but comprise 32 percent of 3. Low-income children by: all people in poverty. Many more children live in families with ◆◆ Age group 1 ◆◆ Race/ethnicity just above the . ◆◆ Parents’ nativity 4. Family characteristics Young children—those under age 9 years—appear to be particularly ◆◆ Parents’ vulnerable, with 44 percent living in low-income families, including 21 ◆◆ Parents’ education percent living in poor families. Being a child in a low-income or poor ◆◆ Family structure family does not happen by chance. Parental education and employment, ◆◆ Region ◆◆ Residential instability race/ethnicity, and other factors are associated with children’s experience ◆◆ Energy & housing insecurity of economic insecurity. This fact sheet describes the demographic, 5. Preschool enrollment socioeconomic, and geographic characteristics of young children and 6. insurance coverage their parents. It highlights important factors that appear to distinguish 7. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance low-income and poor young children from their less Program (SNAP) counterparts. 8. Endnotes

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How many young children under age 9 years live in low- income families in the United States? What is the 2016 federal poverty threshold (FPT)?2 +2123z There are more than 15 million children56 under age 9 years who live in low- ◆◆ $24,339 for a family of four 21+23x income families in the United States. 56+ with two children ◆◆ $19,318 for a family of three Figure 1: Young children by family income, 2016 with one child ◆◆ $16,543 for a family of two with one child

Poor Is a poverty-level income 21% enough to support a family? Above Research suggests that, on average, low income Low income 56% families need an income equal to 44% Note: Above low income is defined as at or above 200% about two times the federal poverty of the federal poverty threshold threshold to meet their most basic Near poor (FPT), poor is defined as below 3 23% needs. Families with incomes 100% of FPT, and near poor is between 100% and 199% of the below this level are referred to as FPT. The low-income category low income: includes both the poor and the near poor. ◆◆ $48,678 for a family of four Percentages may not add up to 100 due to rounding. with two children ◆◆ $38,636 for a family of three with one child Has the percentage of young children living in low-income ◆◆ $33,086 for a family of two and poor families changed over time? with one child These dollar amounts approximate The percentage of low-income young children (both poor and near poor) the average minimum income decreased from 48 percent in 2010 to 44 percent in 2016, and has decreased families need to make ends meet, from a high of 49 percent in 2012 (Figure 2). but actual expenses vary greatly by locality. In 2014, the cost of meeting for a family Figure 2: Young children living in low-income and poor families, 2010–2016 of four required about $85,800 Percent (%) per year in Boston, Massachusetts; $61,500 in Akron, Ohio; $57,200 in Tulsa, Oklahoma; and $53,600 in McAllen, Texas.4

Near poor 100–200% FPL

Poor 50% - 100% FPL

Deep poverty Less than 50% FPL

2 | National Center for Children in Poverty Between 2010 and 2016, the overall Table 1: Number of young children living in low-income and poor families, number of young children (children 2010–2016 under age 9) decreased from 36.4 million to 35.4 million. The number of 2010 2016 low-income, young children decreased Low income 17,397,604 15,399,930 from 17.4 million to 15.4 million, Poor 9,111,181 7,405,464 the number of poor, young children decreased from 9.1 million to 7.4 Deep Poverty 4,514,966 3,327,234 million, and the number of young children living in deep poverty, defined as less than 50 percent of the federal poverty threshold, decreased from 4.5 Figure 3: Family income by age, 2016 million to 3.3 million (Table 1).

Poor Near poor Above low income How does the poverty status of young children compare to 13% 9% 21% Low income 19% Low income Low income Low income the rest of the population? 44% 41% 16% 29% 19% 28%

22% The percentage of young children 23% 71% 72% in low-income families surpasses 57% 59% that of adults. In addition, young children are more than twice as likely as adults 65 years and older to live in poor families (Figure 3). Under age 9 Less than age 18 Ages 18 to 64 Ages 65+

Does the percentage of Figure 4: Percentage of young children in low-income and poor families by age, young children in low-income 2016 families vary by age group? Percent (%) Low income Poor Deep poverty 50 The percentage of poor, deep poor, or low-income young children is 44% 43% 43% 40 5.0 mil relatively stable when comparing 5.1 mil 5.3 mil across age groups (Figure 4). 30

20 21% 21% 21% 2.4 mil 2.4 mil 2.5 mil

10 10% 9% 9% 1.1 mil 1.1 mil 1.1 mil 0 Under 3 Ages 3-5 Ages 6-8

www.nccp.org | 3 Does the percentage of young children in low-income families vary by race/ethnicity?

As Figure 5 illustrates, the Figure 5: Race/ethnicity among young children by family income, 2016 percentages of low-income and poor Percent (%) 100 young children varies by race and Non-Hispanic White ethnicity. Hispanics comprise the 50% 35% 30% Non-Hispanic Black largest share of young children living 80 Hispanic in low-income families (36 percent) and of poor children in this age Asian 60 23% group (also 36 percent).5 20% American Indian Other 13% Black, American Indian, and Hispanic 40 36% 36% children are disproportionately low 26% income and poor (Figure 6). 20

5% 3% 3% 1% 1% 1% 6% 5% 5% 0 Total Low income Poor

Percentages may not add up to 100 due to rounding.

Figure 6: Percentage of young children in low-income and poor families by race/ethnicity, 2016

Percent (%) Low income Poor Deep poverty 80

70

60 64% 65% 61% 50

40 41% 37% 39% 30 31% 30% 28% 20 19% 19% 21% 10 13% 13% 12% 10% 6% 5% 0 White Black Hispanic Asian American Other Indian

Does the percentage of young children in low-income families vary by parent nativity?6 Children of immigrants are more likely to be low-income than children of native-born parents (Figure 7).

Figure 7: Percentage of young children in low-income families by parent nativity, 2016

52% 41% 4.6 million young children with 10.7 million young children with immigrant parents live in native-born parents live in low-income families. low-income families.

4 | National Center for Children in Poverty What are the family characteristics of low-income and poor young children?

7 Parent Employment Figure 8: Percentage of young children in low-income and poor families by Young children with a full-time, parent employment and education, 2016 year-round employed parent are less likely to live in a low-income Percent (%) Low income Poor family, compared to young children 100 with parents who work part time/ part year or who are not employed 80 87% 84% (Figure 8). 73% 70% 60 69% Nevertheless, many low-income and 54% poor young children have parents 40 47% who work full time. About 53 per- 36% 31% 31% cent of low-income children and 31 20 percent of poor children under age 9 9% 12% live with at least one parent em- 0 Full time, Part time Not Less than High school Some ployed full time, year round. year round or employed high school degree college or 31+73+87+84+69+31 9+47+70+54+36+12part year degree more Parent Education8 Higher levels of parental education decrease the likelihood that a child Figure 9: Parent education among young children by family income, 2016 will live in a low-income or poor Some college or more High school degree Less than high school degree family. Among young children with at least one parent with some college or additional education, 31 percent live in low-income families and 12 49% 40% percent live in poor families. By contrast, among children in this age 33% group whose parents have less than 31% a high school degree, 84 percent live in low-income and 54 percent live in poor families (Figure 8). 20% 26%

At the same time, significant shares Low income Poor of low-income and poor families with young children are headed by parents Figure 10: Percentage of young children in low-income and poor families by with at least some college education, family structure, 2016 as shown in Figure 9. Children residing Children residing Children residing Family Structure with both parents with a single parent with other relatives Fifty-eight percent of young children in low-income families—8.8 million—and 51 percent of young children in poor families—3.7 million—live with two parents. Children who live with two parents are much less likely to be poor or low income compared to children who live with one parent or neither 35% 15% 76% 48% 48% 20% low income poor low income poor low income poor parent (Figure 10).

www.nccp.org | 5 Does the percentage of young children in low-income families vary by where they live? Region The percentage of low-income young children varies substantially by region (Figure 11).

Figure 11: Percentage of young children in low-income families by region, 2016

Northeast Midwest 2.1 million West 3.1 million 37% 3.7 million 42% 43%

DC

South 6.5 million 48%

6 | National Center for Children in Poverty Residential Instability and Home Ownership Research suggests that stable housing is important for healthy child development.9 However, young children living in low-income families are more likely than other young children to have moved in the past year and to live in families who rent, rather than own, their homes (Figure 12).

Figure 12: Residential instability and home ownership by family income, families with young children, 2016

Rent housing Moved within one year

69%

26% 21% 15%

Low income Above low income

Energy and Housing Insecurity10 A much larger percent of low-income children experience energy and housing insecurity (Figure 13). Housing and energy insecurity means that their families have difficulty paying these expenses each month, leading to additional stress in the family. 10

Figure 13: Housing and energy insecurity by family income, families with young children, 2016

Low income Above low income

48% 34%

6% 1%

Energy Insecurity Housing Insecurity

www.nccp.org | 7 Does preschool enrollment Figure 14: Preschool enrollment by family income, 2016 vary by family income for very young children? Very young children (ages 3-4) in low-income families are less likely to attend preschool compared to children in higher income families 54% (Figure 14). 11 41%

What proportion of low- income children are covered Low income Above low income

by health insurance? Figure 15: Type of health insurance coverage among young children by family Among children under age 9, 5 income, 2010 & 2016 percent of low-income children Private insurance Public insurance No insurance and 5 percent of poor children Percent (%) are uninsured.12 Public insurance 100 programs cover 43 percent of young 53% 53% 21% 19% 9% 9% children, a slight increase since 2010 76% 82% 86% (Figure 15). They reach many more 80 70% economically disadvantaged young children than private plans, covering 60 76 percent of low-income young children and 86 percent of poor 40 40% 43% young children.

20 What proportion of children 9% 9% 7% 4% 5% 4% in low-income families 0 receive support from the 2010 2016 2010 2016 2010 2016 All children Low-income children Poor children Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)? Figure 16: Low-income young children who receive support from the Among low-income children under Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, 2016 age 9, more than half (52 percent) receive SNAP benefits (Figure 16). This percentage is slightly higher than the 51 percent of young children who received SNAP benefits in 2010, but represents a significant decline from the 55 percent of young children who received SNAP benefits in 2012 and 2013. 69% 52%

Poor Low income

8 | National Center for Children in Poverty

Endnotes

This fact sheet is part of the National Center for of Public Health. Retrieved December 2017 education level of the most highly educated Children in Poverty’s demographic fact sheet from http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_825. parent(s) living in the household. Parents series and is updated annually. Unless otherwise html. can either have no high school degree, a high noted, analysis of the 2016 American Community school degree but no college, or some college Survey (ACS) was conducted by Yang Jiang. 4. Estimates from the Economic Policy or more. Estimates include children living in families with Institute’s Family Budget Calculator. at least one parent and children living apart from Retrieved November 2016 from http://www. 9. Aratani, Y. (2009). Homeless Children and both parents. For children who do not live with epi.org/resources/budget/. Youth: Causes and Consequences. New York, at least one parent (for example, children being NY: National Center for Children in Poverty, raised by grandparents), parental characteristics 5. In the most recent ACS, parents could report Columbia University, Mailman School of are calculated based on those of the householder children’s race as one or more of the following: Public Health. Retrieved December 2017 and/or the householder’s spouse. Children “White,” “Black,” “American Indian or Alaska from http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/ living independently, living with a spouse, in Native,” or “Asian and/or Hawaiian/Pacific text_888.pdf. the system, or in group quarters, and Islander.” In a separate question, parents could children ages 14 years and under living with only report whether their children were of Hispanic 10. Hernández, D., Jiang, Y., Phillips, D., unrelated adults, are excluded from analyses of origin. For the data reported, children whose Carrión D., & Aratani, Y. (2016). “Housing parental characteristics. We would like to thank parent reported their race as White, Black, Hardship and Energy Insecurity among Native Renée Wilson-Simmons, NCCP Director, for American Indian or Alaska Native, or Asian Born and Immigrant Low-Income Families her advice on this fact sheet and Seth Hartig for and/or Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and their with Children in the United States.” Journal of data checks and proofreading. Special thanks to ethnicity as non-Hispanic were assigned a Children and Poverty. 22(2): 77-92. Retrieved Tatiana Brito for layout and production. Support non-Hispanic category of their race. Children December 2017 from https://www.ncbi. for this work was provided by the Annie E. Casey who were reported to be of more than one race nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5016025/pdf/ Foundation. were assigned as Other. Children whose parent nihms758712.pdf identified them as Hispanic were categorized 1. United States Census Bureau, 2016 as Hispanic, regardless of their reported race. Schwartz, M., & and Wilson, E. (2008). “Who American Community Survey 1-Year Can Afford To Live in a Home?: A look at data Estimates (2016). Poverty Status In the Past 6. The variable “native-born parents” is defined from the 2006 American Community Survey” 12 Months. Washington, DC: United States to mean that both parents in the family were Washington, DC: United States Census Bureau. Census Bureau. Retrieved December 2017 born in the U.S. or its territories, or born Retrieved December 2017 from https://www. from https://factfinder.census.gov. In this fact abroad to American parent(s). The variable census.gov/housing/census/publications/who-can- sheet, poverty is defined as family income “immigrant parents” is defined to mean that afford.pdf. less than 100 percent of the federal poverty at least one parent in the family is either a U.S. threshold, as determined by the U.S. Census citizen by naturalization or is not a citizen of 11. The most recent ACS does not differentiate Bureau; low income is defined as family the U.S. whether young children attend preschool or income less than 200 percent of the poverty if they are attending Kindergarten or higher threshold; deep poverty is defined as family 7. Parent employment is defined as the grades. The numbers cited above assume income less than 50 percent of the poverty employment level of the parent in the that children ages 3 or 4 attending school are threshold. household who maintained the highest level attending preschool. Some children who are 5 of employment in the previous year. Parents years old may also be attending preschool, but 2. The U.S. Census Bureau issues the poverty can either have no employment in the previous have been excluded from the age range used thresholds annually. Thresholds vary by family year, part-year or part-time employment, or in determining the preschool statistics cited size and composition. See http://www.census. full-time, year-round employment. Part-year above. gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income- or part-time employment is defined as either poverty/historical-poverty-thresholds.html for working less than 50 weeks in the previous 12. People can report more than one type the complete 2016 poverty thresholds. year or less than 35 hours per week. Full-time, of insurance coverage. Children who were year-round employment is defined as working covered by both private and public insurance 3. Cauthen, N.K., & Fass, S. (2008). Measuring at least 50 weeks in the previous year and 35 were categorized as having public insurance. Income and Poverty in the United States. New hours or more per week. Children not covered by private or public York, NY: National Center for Children in health insurance at the time of the survey are Poverty, Columbia University, Mailman School 8. Parent education is defined as the considered uninsured.

To find comparable information for all children, see Basic Facts about Low-Income Children: Children under 18 Years, 2016

SUGGESTED CITATION

Koball, H., & Jiang, Y. (2018). Basic Facts about Low-Income Children: Children under 9 Years, 2016. New York: National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.