Income Money and Poverty Status - Children Living In Poverty

In 2003 Hispanic and African-American children were more than three times as likely to live in poverty than non-Hispanic white children. Over a third (34%) of African-American children and 29% of Hispanic children lived in poverty, while only 9% of white, non-Hispanic children lived in poverty. In families headed by married couples, only 5% of white, non-Hispanic children lived in poverty. The African-American poverty rate of children living in married-couple families was significantly lower than for all African-American children, at 11%. Hispanic children living in married-couple families did not have as significant a drop in their poverty rates; 21% of them lived in poverty. Children were particularly at risk in households headed by a single female. In these households 31% of white, non-Hispanic children, 50% of African-American children, and 51% of Hispanic children lived in poverty. (See Table 5.6.)

TABLE 5.5 People with income below specified ratios of their poverty thresholds, by selected characteristics, 2004 Carmen DeNavas-Walt, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Cheryl Hill Lee, "Table 5. People with Income below Specified Ratios of Their Poverty Thresholds by Selected Characteristics: 2004," in Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004, Current Population Reports P60-229, U.S. Census Bureau, August 2005, http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/p60-229.pdf (accessed January 23, 2006)

TABLE 5.5
People with income below specified ratios of their poverty thresholds, by selected characteristics, 2004
[Numbers in thousands. People as of March of the following year.]
Characteristic	Income-to-poverty ratio
	Total	Under 0.50 of poverty threshold		Between 0.50 and 1.00 of poverty threshold		Between 1.00 and 1.25 of poverty threshold
		Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage
*Federal surveys now give respondents the option of reporting more than one race. Therefore, two basic ways of defining a race group are possible. A group such as Asian may be defined as those who reported Asian and no other race (the race-alone or single-race concept) or as those who reported Asian regardless of whether they also reported another race (the race-alone-or-in-combination concept). This table shows data using the first approach (race alone). The use of the single-race population does not imply that it is the preferred method of presenting or analyzing data. The Census Bureau uses a variety of approaches. About 2.6 percent of people reported more than one race in Census 2000.
Note: Details may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: Carmen DeNavas-Walt, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Cheryl Hill Lee, "Table 5. People with Income below Specified Ratios of Their Poverty Thresholds by Selected Characteristics: 2004," in Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004, Current Population Reports P60-229, U.S. Census Bureau, August 2005, http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/p60-229.pdf (accessed January 23, 2006)
All people	290,605	15,637	5.4	21,360	7.4	12,669	4.4
Age
Under 18 years	73,271	5,561	7.6	7,465	10.2	3,767	5.1
18 to 24 years	27,972	2,507	9.0	2,561	9.2	1,504	5.4
25 to 34 years	39,307	2,155	5.5	2,769	7.0	1,661	4.2
35 to 44 years	43,350	1,792	4.1	2,481	5.7	1,371	3.2
45 to 54 years	41,960	1,540	3.7	1,967	4.7	1,132	2.7
55 to 59 years	16,763	614	3.7	803	4.8	454	2.7
60 to 64 years	12,769	537	4.2	789	6.2	433	3.4
65 years and older	35,213	932	2.6	2,525	7.2	2,347	6.7
Race* and Hispanic origin
White	233,702	10,191	4.4	15,110	6.5	9,488	4.1
White,not Hispanic	195,054	7,172	3.7	9,698	5.0	6,308	3.2
Black	36,423	4,275	11.7	4,725	13.0	2,275	6.2
Asian	12,301	545	4.4	663	5.4	463	3.8
Hispanic origin (any race)	41,688	3,290	7.9	5,842	14.0	3,416	8.2
Family status
In families	241,153	10,579	4.4	15,984	6.6	9,186	3.8
Householder	77,019	3,257	4.2	4,597	6.0	2,676	3.5
Related children under 18	72,164	5,183	7.2	7,277	10.1	3,722	5.2
Related children under 6	23,750	2,147	9.0	2,591	10.9	1,314	5.5
Unrelated subfamilies	1,255	335	26.7	234	18.7	59	4.7
Unrelated individual	48,198	4,722	9.8	5,142	10.7	3,423	7.1
Male	23,442	2,215	9.5	2,069	8.8	1,338	5.7
Female	24,756	2,507	10.1	3,073	12.4	2,085	8.4

TABLE 5.6 Percentage of related children under age 18 living below selected poverty levels, by age, family structure, race, and Hispanic origin, selected years 1980–2003 Adapted from "Table ECON1.A. Child Poverty: Percentage of All Children and Related Children Ages 0-17 Living below Selected Poverty Levels by Selected Characteristics, Selected Years, 1980–2003," in America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2005, Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, July 2005, http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/childstats/report2005.pdf (accessed January 24, 2006)

TABLE 5.6
Percentage of related children under age 18 living below selected poverty levels, by age, family structure, race, and Hispanic origin, selected years 1980–2003
Characteristic	1980	1985	1990	1993	1995	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
aA related child is a person ages 0-17 who is related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption, but is not the householder or the householder's spouse
bPersons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
Note: "—" = Not available. The poverty level is based on money income and does not include noncash benefits, such as food stamps. Poverty thresholds reflect family size and composition and are adjusted each year using the annual average consumer price index level. The average poverty threshold for a family of four was $18,810 in 2003. The levels shown here are derived from the ratio of the family's income to the family's poverty threshold.
SOURCE: Adapted from "Table ECON1.A. Child Poverty: Percentage of All Children and Related Children Ages 0-17 Living below Selected Poverty Levels by Selected Characteristics, Selected Years, 1980–2003," in America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2005, Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, July 2005, http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/childstats/report2005.pdf (accessed January 24, 2006)
Below 100% poverty
Related childrena
Children in all families, total	18	20	20	22	20	19	18	17	16	16	16	17
Related children ages 0-5	20	23	23	26	24	22	21	18	18	18	19	20
Related children ages 6-17	17	19	18	20	18	18	17	16	15	15	15	16
White, non-Hispanic	11	12	12	13	11	11	10	9	9	9	—	—
White-alone, non-Hispanic	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	9	9
Black	42	43	44	46	42	37	36	33	31	30	—	—
Black-alone	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	32	34
Hispanicb	33	40	38	40	39	36	34	30	28	27	28	29
Children in married-couple Families, total	—	—	10	12	10	10	9	9	8	8	9	9
Related children ages 0-5	—	—	12	13	11	11	10	9	9	9	10	10
Related children ages 6-17	—	—	10	11	9	9	9	8	8	7	8	8
White, non-Hispanic	—	—	7	8	6	5	5	5	5	5	—	—
White-alone, non-Hispanic	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5	5
Black	—	—	18	18	13	13	12	11	9	10	—	—
Black-alone	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	12	11
Hispanicb	—	—	27	30	28	26	23	22	21	20	21	21
Children in female-householder families,
no husband present, total	51	54	53	54	50	49	46	42	40	39	40	42
Related children ages 0-5	65	66	66	64	62	59	55	51	50	49	49	53
Related children ages 6-17	46	48	47	49	45	45	42	39	36	35	36	37
White, non-Hispanic	—	—	40	39	34	37	33	29	28	29	—	—
White-alone, non-Hispanic	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	29	31
Black	65	67	65	66	62	55	55	52	49	47	—	—
Black-alone	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	48	50
Hispanicb	65	72	68	66	66	63	60	52	50	49	48	51
Below 50% poverty
Related childrena
Children in all families, total	7	8	8	10	8	8	8	6	6	7	7	7
Related children ages 0-5	—	—	10	12	10	10	9	8	8	8	8	10
Related children ages 6-17	—	—	7	8	7	8	7	6	6	6	6	6
White, non-Hispanic	—	—	4	5	3	4	4	3	3	3	—	—
White-alone, non-Hispanic	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3	4
Black	17	22	22	26	20	20	17	15	15	16	—	—
Black-alone	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	15	17
Hispanicb	—	—	14	14	16	16	13	11	9	10	11	11
Children in married-couple families, total	—	—	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2
Related children ages 0-5	—	—	3	4	3	3	3	2	2	3	3	3
Related children ages 6-17	—	—	2	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2
White, non-Hispanic	—	—	2	2	1	1	2	1	2	2	—	—
White-alone, non-Hispanic	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2	1
Black	—	—	4	7	3	5	3	3	3	3	—	—
Black-alone	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3	4
Hispanicb	—	—	7	7	9	7	5	5	4	5	5	5
Children in female-householder families, no husband present, total	—	—	28	29	24	26	23	20	19	20	20	22
Related children ages 0-5	—	—	37	36	34	34	31	27	28	28	28	31
Related children ages 6-17	—	—	23	25	19	22	19	17	15	17	16	17
White, non-Hispanic	—	—	19	19	13	17	15	13	12	13	—	—
White-alone, non-Hispanic	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	12	15
Black	—	—	37	40	32	31	29	25	24	27	—	—
Black-alone	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	25	27
Hispanicb	—	—	32	30	33	36	32	27	25	26	26	25

African-American children were also much more likely to live in extreme poverty than non-Hispanic white children in 2003. About 17% of African-American children lived in families with incomes below 50% of the poverty threshold, compared with 11% of Hispanic children and 4% of white, non-Hispanic children. A quarter of African-American children (27%) and Hispanic children (25%) living in female-householder families lived in extreme poverty, compared with 15% of white, non-Hispanic children living in female-householder families. (See Table 5.6.)