Basic Facts about Low-Income Children: Children under 6 Years, 2015

To find comparable information for all children, see Basic Facts about Low-Income Children: Children under 18 Years, 2015; for infants and toddlers, see Basic Facts about Low-Income Children: Children under 3 Years, 2015; for children in middle childhood, see Basic Facts about Low-Income Children: Children 6 through 11 Years, 2015; for adolescent children, see Basic Facts about Low-Income Children: Children 12 through 17 Years, 2015.

Among all children under 18 years in the U.S., 43 percent live in low-income families and 21 percent—approximately one in five—lives in a poor family. This means that children are overrepresented among our nation’s poor; they represent 23 percent of the population but comprise 33 percent of all people in poverty. Many more children live in families with incomes just above the poverty threshold.

Young children under age 6 years appear to be particularly vulnerable, with 45 percent living in low-income and 23 percent living in poor families. Being a child in a low-income or poor family does not happen by chance. Parental education and employment, race/ethnicity, and other factors are associated with children’s experience of economic insecurity. This fact sheet describes the demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic characteristics of young children and their parents. It highlights important factors that appear to distinguish low-income and poor children in this age group from their less disadvantaged counterparts.

How many young children under age 6 years live in low-income families in the United States?

There are over 23 million young children under age 6 years in the United States.

• 45 percent—10.5 million—live in low-income families
• 23 percent—5.3 million—live in poor families

Note: Above low income is defined as at or above 200% of the federal poverty threshold (FPT), poor is defined as below 100% of FPT, and near poor is between 100% and 199% of the FPT. The low-income category includes both the poor and the near poor.

Has the percentage of young children living in low-income and poor families changed over time?

The percentage of young children living in low-income families (both poor and near poor) has decreased from 46 percent in 2009 to 45 percent in 2015, and has dropped even further from a high of 49 percent in 2011 (Figure 2). Between 2009 and 2015, the overall number of young children under age 6 years decreased by 6 percent, and the number of children under age 6 who were low-income and poor decreased by 7 percent (Table 1).

How do young children compare to the rest of the population?

The percentage of young children in low-income families surpasses that of adults. In addition, children under age 6 years are more than twice as likely as adults 65 years and older to live in poor families (Figure 3).

Does the percentage of children in low-income families vary by age group?

The percentages of children who live in low-income and poor families vary by age group. Children under 6 are more likely to live in low-income and poor families than older children (Figure 4).

• 45 percent of children under age 6 years—10.5 million— live in low-income families
• 23 percent of children under age 6 years—5.3 million— live in poor families
• 41 percent of children ages 6 through 17 years—20.1 million—live in low-income families
• 20 percent of children ages 6 through 17 years—9.5 million—live in poor families

Does the percentage of young children in low-income families vary by race/ethnicity?

As Figure 5 illustrates, the percentages of low-income and poor young children vary by race and ethnicity: whites comprise the largest share of all young children living in low-income families (36 percent), while Hispanics make up the largest share of poor children in this age group (37 percent).

Black, American Indian, and Hispanic children are disproportionately low income and poor (Figure 6).

• 68 percent of black children under age 6 years—2.1 million—live in low-income families
• 65 percent of American Indian children under age 6 years—0.1 million—live in low-income families
• 63 percent of Hispanic children under age 6 years—3.7 million—live in low-income families
• 33 percent of white children under age 6 years—3.8 million—live in low-income families
• 29 percent of Asian children under age 6 years—0.3 million—live in low-income families
• 40 percent of children under age 6 years of some other race—0.5 million—live in low-income families

Does the percentage of young children in low-income families vary by parents’ nativity?

• 53 percent of children under age 6 years with immigrant parents—3.1 million—live in low-income families
• 43 percent of children under age 6 years with native-born parents—7.5 million—live in low-income families

What are the family characteristics of low-income and poor young children?

Parents’ Employment

Young children with a full-time, year-round employed parent are less likely to live in a low-income family, compared to young children with parents who work part time/ part year or who are not employed (Figure 7).

• 33 percent of children under age 6 years with at least one parent who works full time, year round—5.4 million— live in low-income families
• 10 percent of children under age 6 years with at least one parent who works full time, year round—1.6 million— live in poor families
• 74 percent of children under age 6 years with no parent who works full time, but at least one parent who works part time or part year—3.3 million—live in low-income families
• 48 percent of children under age 6 years with no parent who works full time, but at least one parent who works part time or part year—2.2 million—live in poor families
• 87 percent of children under age 6 years with no employed parents—1.8 million—live in low-income families
• 72 percent of children under age 6 years with no employed parents—1.5 million—live in poor families

Nevertheless, many low-income and poor young children have par- ents who work full time. About 51 percent of low-income children and 30 percent of poor children in this age group live with at least one parent employed full time, year round.

Parents’ Education

Higher levels of parental education decrease the likelihood that a child will live in a low-income or poor family. Among children with at least one parent with some college or additional education, 32 percent live in low-income and 13 percent in poor families. By contrast, among children whose parents have less than a high school degree, 85 percent live in low-income and 57 percent in poor families (Figure 7).

• 85 percent of children under age 6 years with parents who have less than a high school degree—2.0 million—live in low-income families
• 71 percent of children under age 6 years with parents who have a high school degree but no college—3.3 million—live in low-income families
• 32 percent of children under age 6 years with at least one parent who has some college or additional education—5.3 million—live in low-income families

At the same time, significant shares of low-income and poor families with young children are headed by parents with at least some college education, as shown in Figure 8.

Family Structure

Forty-seven percent of young children in low-income families—4.9 million—and 34 percent of young children in poor families—1.8 million—live with married parents. Children who live with married parents are much less likely to be poor or low income compared to children who live with a single parent.

• 32 percent of children under age 6 years residing  with married parents—4.9 million—live in low-income families
• 12 percent of childrenunder age 6 years residing with married parents—1.8 million—live in poor families
• 72 percent of children under single parent—5.6 million—live in low-income families
• 44 percent of children under age 6 years residing with a single parent—3.4 million— live in poor families

Does the percentage of young children in low-income families vary by where they live?

Region

The percentage of children under age 6 years in low-income families varies substantially by region (Figure 9).

• 49 percent of children under age 6 years in the South—4.4 million—live in low-income families
• 45 percent of children under age 6 years in the West—2.6 million—live in low-income families
• 44 percent of children under age 6 years in the Midwest—2.1 million—live in low-income families
• 38 percent of children under age 6 years in the Northeast—1.4 million— live in low-income families

Residential Instability and Home Ownership

Research suggests that stable housing is important for healthy child development. However, young children living in low-income the past year and to live in families who rent, rather than own, a home (Figure 10).

• 24 percent of children under age 6 years in low-income families —2.5 million — moved in the last year
• 16 percent of children under age 6 years in families above the low-income threshold—2.0 million— moved in the last year
• 70 percent of children under age 6 years in low-income families—7.4 million—live in families who rent their homes
• 27 percent of children under age 6 years in families above the low-income threshold—3.5 million—live in families who rent their homes

Are young children in low-income families covered by health insurance?

Among all young children under age 6, approximately 5 percent living in low-income families and 5 percent living in poor families are uninsured. Consistent with research suggesting older children in general are particularly at risk of being uninsured, low-income and poor children under age 6 are less likely to be without health insurance coverage, compared to older children in low-income and poor families (Figure 11). Public insurance reaches many more economically disadvantaged children under age 6 years than private plans, covering 76 percent of low-income children and 87 percent of poor children in this age group (Figure 12).

• 5 percent of children under age 6 years living in low-income families—0.5 million—are uninsured
• 24 percent of children under age 6 years living in low-income families—2.5 million—are covered by private insurance
• 76 percent of children under age 6 years living in low-income families—8.0 million—are covered by public insurance

Endnotes

This fact sheet is part of the National Center for Children in Poverty’s demographic fact sheet series and is updated annually. Unless otherwise noted, analysis of the 2015 American Community Survey (ACS) was conducted by Yang Jiang and Maribel R. Granja of NCCP. Estimates include children living in families with at least one parent and most children living apart from both parents. Children living independently, living with a spouse, in the foster care system, or in group quarters are excluded from these data. Children ages 14 years and under living with only unrelated adults were not included because data on their income status were not available. For children who do not live with at least one parent (for example, children being raised by grandparents), parental characteristics are calculated based on those of the householder and/or the householder’s spouse. We would like to thank Renée Wilson-Simmons, NCCP Director, for her advice on this fact sheet and both Seth Hartig and Suma Setty for data checks and proofreading. Special thanks to Diana Gazzia for layout and production.

1. United States Census Bureau, 2015 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates (2016). Table S1701: Poverty Status In the Past 12 Months. Washington, DC: United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 2016 from http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_15_1YR_S1701&prodType=table. While these numbers reflect the total number of children in poverty, the remaining numbers in this report include only children living in families, as defined in the note above. In this fact sheet, poverty is defined as family income less than 100 percent of the federal poverty threshold, as determined by the U.S. Census Bureau; low income is defined as family income less than 200 percent of the poverty threshold.

2. The U.S. Census Bureau issues the poverty thresholds annually. Thresholds vary by family size and composition. See http://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-povertythresholds.html for the complete 2015 poverty thresholds.

3. Cauthen, Nancy K. & Fass, Sarah. (2008). Measuring Income and Poverty in the United States. New York, NY: National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health.

4. Estimates from the Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator. Retrieved November 2016 from http://www.epi.org/resources/budget/.

5. In the most recent ACS, parents could report children’s race as one or more of the following: “White,” “Black,” “American Indian or Alaska Native,” or “Asian and/or Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.” In a separate question, parents could report whether their children were of Hispanic origin. For the data reported, children whose parent reported their race as White, Black, American Indian or Alaska Native, or Asian and/or Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and their ethnicity as non-Hispanic were assigned a non-Hispanic category of their race. Children who were reported to be of more than one race were assigned as Other. Children whose parent identified them as Hispanic were categorized as Hispanic, regardless of their reported race.

6. The variable “native-born parents” is defined to mean that both parents in the family were born in the U.S. or its territories, or born abroad to American parent(s). The variable “immigrant parents” is defined to mean that at least one parent in the family is either a U.S. citizen by naturalization or is not a citizen of the U.S.

7. Parents’ employment is defined as the employment level of the parent in the household who maintained the highest level of employment in the previous year. Parents can either have no employment in the previous year, part-year or part-time employment, or full-time, year-round employment. Part-year or part-time employment is defined as either working less than 50 weeks in the previous year or less than 35 hours per week. Full-time, year-round employment is defined as working at least 50 weeks in the previous year and 35 hours or more per week.

8. Parents’ education is defined as the education level of the most highly educated parent(s) living in the household. Parents can either have no high school degree, a high school degree but no college, or some college or more.

9. Aratani, Yumiko. (2009). Homeless Children and Youth. New York, NY: National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health.

10. People can report more than one type of insurance coverage. Children not covered by private or public health insurance at the time of the survey are considered uninsured.

11. Schwarz, Susan Wile. (2009). Adolescent Mental Health in the United States. New York, NY: National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health.