Income Money and Poverty Status - Children Living In Poverty

Although there are various ways to define a poor household, the federal government's definition is having FIGURE 5.1
Median earnings of full-time, year-round workers 15 years old and over by sex, 1967–2002 an income below the U.S. poverty threshold. (See Table 5.5, which shows poverty thresholds for 2002.)

In 2001 Hispanic and African-American children were more than three times as likely to live in poverty than non-Hispanic white children. Approximately 30 percent of African-American children lived in poverty, compared to 27 percent of Hispanic children and 9 percent of white, non-Hispanic children. Children in households headed by a female without a spouse present were far more likely to live in poverty than children in married-couple families. In households headed by a female with no husband present, 49 percent of Hispanic children and 47 percent of African-American children lived below the poverty level. (See Table 5.7.)