Fewer Children in Poverty, But Still Cause for Concern

For the first time since the great reces­sion, the child pover­ty rate has declined. Accord­ing to data from the U.S. Cen­sus Bureau’s Amer­i­can Com­mu­ni­ty Sur­vey, 22% of kids, or 16 mil­lion chil­dren, lived in pover­ty in 2013, a num­ber equal to the child pop­u­la­tions of Texas and Cal­i­for­nia combined. 

Of these chil­dren, 14% live in areas of con­cen­trat­ed pover­ty — neigh­bor­hoods where res­i­dents are more like­ly to expe­ri­ence high rates of crime and vio­lence, phys­i­cal and men­tal health issues, unem­ploy­ment and oth­er issues relat­ed to hav­ing lim­it­ed resources. In Mis­sis­sip­pi, 27% of chil­dren lived in such high-pover­ty areas, com­pared with 1% in Vermont.

Chil­dren Liv­ing in Areas of Con­cen­trat­ed Pover­ty, 2009–2013

Explore new Pover­ty data avail­able for the nation, states and the largest 50 cities in the KIDS COUNT Data Cen­ter:

• Pop­u­la­tion in poverty
• Per­sons 18 to 24 in poverty
• Chil­dren in extreme poverty
• Chil­dren in poverty
• Chil­dren below pover­ty by race
• Chil­dren in pover­ty by age group
• Chil­dren below 150 per­cent of poverty
• Chil­dren below 200 per­cent of poverty
• Chil­dren liv­ing in areas of con­cen­trat­ed poverty