About Child Poverty

The Problem:

Presently, 14.1 million children in America, or one in five, are poor. Minority children are most affected: one in three Black children and three in ten Latino children are poor compared to one in 11 of those who are White. Some 6.3 million of these poor children live in extreme poverty—families with an annual income below $11,025 for a family of four—representing less than half the poverty level for this family size.

Why It Matters:

Seven of every 10 poor children live in families in which at least one family member worked full- or part-time for at least part of the calendar year. Yet for millions of these children, family incomes are insufficient to meet even their basic health and nutrition needs. Poorer children have relatively lower achievement in school and are much less likely to graduate from high school, putting them at high risk of inter-generational poverty. Such extensive child poverty costs our nation half a trillion dollars each year in lost productivity, poorer health, and increased crime. Youth from low-income households have an increased likelihood of participating in serious crimes compared to those from higher-income households. Violence and crime undermine social cohesion within and between communities, jeopardizing our national security.

This pervasive child poverty is unacceptable and unnecessary in our more than $13 trillion economy. It is a matter of values and choices.

What Must Be Done:

Increased investments in education, including job training, and accelerated job creation promise to help families find employment and move out of poverty. We must make work pay by guaranteeing families a livable minimum wage, regularly adjusted for inflation, and offering them, as needed, affordable housing, food stamps, and the child care and leave policies that will enable them to work. To truly help families move out of poverty, they also need income supports including the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Child Tax Credit and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit. All of these tax credits need to be expanded and be made fully refundable, like the EITC, to meet the needs of low-income families. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program must be adequately funded and structured to provide this essential support for the most vulnerable families, including those who face major obstacles to work.

Based upon years of working directly with families and communities to help lift children out of poverty, CDF works to expand public awareness about child poverty and its inherently harmful effects on families, communities and our nation. CDF will work with our partners to raise awareness about existing policies and programs that can end this travesty and with communities and organizations to continually analyze and monitor the effectiveness of these policies so we can truly change the landscape of child poverty in America.