The gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen, while the child poverty rate remains stable
According to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of children living in poverty last year, despite receiving government assistance, remained at 13.4%, down 0.3 percentage points from 2023. The 2024 data, released Tuesday, also revealed significant racial and ethnic disparities, with minority children continuing to face higher poverty rates and less access to health insurance. The data includes the Census Bureau's annual report on poverty, income, and health insurance.
Poverty data
While the supplemental poverty measure (SPM), or child poverty rate taking into account government assistance, decreased slightly, racial and ethnic disparities persist.
SPM rates were at historic lows for non-Hispanic white, Black and Hispanic children in 2021 due to pandemic-era policies that targeted families with children. SPM rates for children of all races began to rise in 2022 as those policies ended.
Between 2023 and 2024, the SPM rate for Asian children decreased by 4.4 percentage points, to 9.6%. The SPM rates for non-Hispanic white (6.7%), Black (22.7%), and Hispanic (21.5%) children in 2024 did not differ significantly from those in 2023.
In 2024, the official child poverty rate (excluding government assistance) fell by one percentage point, to 14.3%. This means that approximately 10.35 million children will live below the poverty line, which is defined as an annual income of less than $31,812 for a family of two adults and two children.
In 2024, 25.7% of American Indian/Alaska Native children will live below the official poverty line, followed by Black (25.4%), Hispanic (20.2%), non-Hispanic white (8.2%), and Asian (6.4%) children.
“The child poverty rate measured by the SPM has historically been lower than the official poverty rate due to the inclusion of government programs for families with children, including tax credits and nutrition assistance programs,” said Dr. Liana Fox, Assistant Director of the Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division at the U.S. Census Bureau. “This gap widened in 2020 and 2021 due to stimulus spending and program expansions during the pandemic, but has since narrowed.”
Actual median household income was $83,730, up from an estimated $82,690 in 2023. This increase was primarily driven by a 4.2% increase in household income at the 90th percentile, while changes at the 10th and 50th percentiles were statistically insignificant.
"Inequality at the top of the income distribution has increased, but other income ratios have not changed significantly," the report noted.
Programs like the child tax credit have lifted 3.7 million children out of poverty, while the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has lifted 1.4 million children out of poverty. The school lunch program has lifted 666,000 children out of poverty. Data show that medical expenses have pushed 1.5 million children into poverty.
Health Insurance
The percentage of children with private insurance will rise to 63% in 2024, up from 61.2% in 2023.
Data show that 6.1% of children will be uninsured in 2024, a 0.3 percentage point increase from 2023. Non-Hispanic white children (4.1%) and Asian children (4.2%) have the lowest uninsurance rates. Black children (5.7%) and Hispanic children (10.1%) have the highest uninsurance rates. These figures represent increases from 4.8% and 9.4%, respectively, in 2023.
The official poverty rate for the US population is 10.6%, while the SPM poverty rate is 12.9%. Overall, 8% of Americans are uninsured.
Addressing poverty and lack of insurance is a key area of work for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The 2016 AAP policy, "Poverty and Child Health in America" (reaffirmed in 2021), calls for improving access to early childhood education and increasing parental income through strengthening programs such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, SNAP, housing subsidies, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.