U.S. Value: 16.8%
Healthiest State: New Hampshire: 7.1%
Least-healthy State: Mississippi: 28.1%
Definition: Percentage of children younger than 18 years who live in households below the poverty threshold
Data Source & Year(s): U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2019
Suggested Citation: America's Health Rankings analysis of U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, United Health Foundation, AmericasHealthRankings.org, accessed 2022.
Families with income below the federal poverty level may struggle to consistently meet the basic needs of their children. Exposure to chronic stress, including unreliable access to food, health care and stable housing, may impair the development of children in poverty and can affect their health at any stage:
Living in poverty affects a child’s ability to succeed in school and may impact potential future earnings. One estimate of the cost of U.S. childhood poverty totaled $1.03 trillion annually, factoring in lost potential earnings and costs of poor health.
The prevalence of poverty in children is higher among:
Children ages 0-5 compared with children ages 12-17.
https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=Official%20Poverty%20Measure&g=0400000US18&tid=ACSST5Y2020.S1701
Last accessed 11 July 2022