Basic Facts about Low-income Children: Children Aged 12 through 17 Years, 2014

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To find comparable information for all children, see Basic Facts about Low-Income Children: Children under 18 Years, 2014; for infants and toddlers, see Basic Facts about Low-Income Children: Children under 3 Years, 2014; for young children, see Basic Facts about Low-Income Children: Children under 6 Years, 2014; for children in middle childhood, see Basic Facts about Low-Income Children: Children 6 through 11 Years, 2014.

Children under 18 years represent 23 percent of the population, but they comprise 32 percent of all people in poverty. Many more children live in families with incomes just above the poverty threshold. Among all children, 44 percent live in low-income families and approximately one in every five (21 percent) live in poor families. Among our oldest children, adolescents age 12 through 17 years, 40 percent live in low-income families and 19 percent live in poor families. Being a child in a low-income or poor family does not happen by chance. Parental education and employment, race/ethnicity, and other factors are associated with children’s experience of economic insecurity. This fact sheet describes the demographic, socio-economic, and geographic characteristics of adolescents and their parents. It highlights the important factors that appear to distinguish low-income and poor children in this age group from their less disadvantaged counterparts.

How many adolescents, ages 12 through 17 years, live in low-income families in the United States?

Figure 1: Adolescents by family income, 2014

There are more than 24 million adolescents age 12 through 17 years in the United States

  • 40 percent—9.7 million—live in low-income families
  • 19 percent—4.6 million—live in poor families

Note: Above low income is defined as at or above 200% of the federal poverty threshold (FPT), poor is defined as below 100% of FPT, and near poor is between 100% and 199% of the FPT. The low-income category includes both the poor and the near poor.

What is the 2014 federal poverty threshold (FPT)?

  • $24,008 for a family of four with two children
  • $19,055 for a family of three with one child
  • $16,317 for a family of two with one child

Is a poverty-level income enough to support a family?

Research suggests that, on average, families need an income equal to about two times the federal poverty threshold to meet their most basic needs. Families with incomes below this level, such as families making below the following incomes, are referred to as low income:

  • $48,016 for a family of four with two children
  • $38,110 for a family of three with one child
  • $32,634 for a family of two with one child

These dollar amounts approximate the average minimum income families need to make ends meet, but actual expenses vary greatly by locality. In 2014, the cost of meeting basic needs for a family of four required about $85,800 per year in Boston, Massachusetts; $61,500 in Akron, Ohio; $57,200 in Tulsa, Oklahoma; and $53,600 in McAllen, Texas.

Has the percentage of adolescents living in low-income and poor families changed over time?

Table 1: Percentage change of adolescents living in low-income and poor families, 2008-2014
Figure 2: Adolescents living in low-income and poor families, 2008-2014

The percentage of adolescent children living in low-income families (both poor and near poor) has been on the rise—increasing from 35 percent in 2008 to nearly 40 percent in 2014 (Figure 2). During this time period, the overall number of adolescent children age 12 through 17 years remained relatively constant, while the numbers who were low-income and poor increased by 13 percent and 21 percent, respectively (Table 1).

How do adolescents compare to the rest of the population?

Figure 3: Family income by age, 2014

The percentage of adolescents in low-income families surpasses that of adults. In addition, children ages 12 through 17 years are more than twice as likely as adults 65 years and older to live in poor families (Figure 3).

Does the percentage of children in low-income families vary by children’s age?

Figure 4: Percentage of children in low-income and poor families by age, 2014

The overall percentages of children under 18 years who live in low-income and poor families vary by age group. Adolescents are less likely to live in low-income families than younger children (Figure 4).

  • 40 percent of children age 12 through 17 years—9.7 million—live in low-income families
  • 19 percent of children age 12 through 17 years—4.6 million—live in poor families
  • 46 percent of children under age 12 years—21.7 million—live in low-income families
  • 23 percent of children under age 12 years—10.8 million—live in poor families

Does the percentage of adolescents in low-income families vary by race/ethnicity?

Figure 5: Race/ethnicity among adolescents by family income, 2014
Figure 6: Percentage of adolescents in low-income and poor families by race/ethnicity, 2014

As Figure 5 illustrates, the percentages of low-income and poor adolescents vary by race and ethnicity: whites comprise the largest share of all low-income children (37 percent) while whites and Hispanics make up the largest shares of poor children (34 percent each).

Black, American Indian, and Hispanic children are disproportionately low income and poor (Figure 6).

  • 60 percent of black adolescents—2.0 million—live in low-income families
  • 59 percent of Hispanic adolescents—3.2 million—live in low-income families
  • 56 percent of American Indian adolescents—0.1 million—live in low-income families
  • 32 percent of Asian adolescents—0.4 million—live in low-income families
  • 27 percent of white adolescents—3.6 million—live in low-income families
  • 40 percent of adolescents of some other race—0.4 million—live in low-income families

Does the percentage of adolescents in low-income families vary by parents’ nativity?

  • 52 percent of adolescents of immigrant parents—3.1 million– live in low-income families
  • 36 percent of adolescents of native-born parents—6.6 million—live in low-income families

What are the family characteristics of low-income and poor adolescents?

Parents’ Education
Figure 7: Percentage of adolescents in low-income and poor families by parents’ employment and education, 2014

Higher levels of parental education decrease the likelihood that a child will live in a low-income or poor family. Among children with at least one parent with some college or additional education, 27 percent live in low-income and 11 percent in poor families. By contrast, among children whose parents have less than a high school degree, 82 percent live in low-income and 50 percent in poor families (Figure 7).

  • 82 percent of adolescents with parents who have less than a high school degree—2.2 million—live in low-income families
  • 60 percent of adolescents with parents who have a high school degree but no college—2.9 million—live in low-income families
  • 27 percent of adolescents with at least one parent who has some college or additional education—4.6 million—live in low-income families

At the same time, significant shares of low-income and poor families with adolescent children are headed by parents with at least some college education, as shown in Figure 8.

Parents’ Employment
Figure 8: Parents’ education among adolescents by family income, 2014

Adolescents with a full-time, year-round employed parent are less likely to live in a low-income family, compared to adolescents with parents who work part time or part year, or who are not employed (Figure 7).

  • 27 percent of adolescents with at least one parent who works full time, year round—5.0 million—live in low-income families
  • 8 percent of adolescents with at least one parent who works full time, year round—1.4 million—live in poor families
  • 71 percent of adolescents with no parent who works full time, but at least one parent who works part time or part year—2.7 million—live in low-income families
  • 43 percent of adolescents with no parent who works full time, but at least one parent who works part time or part year—1.6 million—live in poor families
  • 87 percent of adolescents with no employed parents—1.9 million—live in low-income families
  • 68 percent of adolescents with no employed parents—1.5 million—live in poor families

Nevertheless, many low-income and poor adolescents have parents who work full time. Over half of low-income and 31 percent of poor children in this age group live with at least one parent who worked full-time, year-round.

Family Structure

Forty-six percent of adolescents in low-income families—4.5 million—and 36 percent of adolescents in poor families—1.6 million—live with married parents. Children who live with married parents are much less likely to be poor or low-income compared to children who live with a single parent.

  • 28 percent of adolescents residing with married parents—4.5 million—live in low-income families
  • 10 percent of adolescents residing with married parents—1.6 million—live in poor families
  • 63 percent of adolescents residing with a single parent—5.2 million—live in low-income families
  • 36 percent of adolescents residing with a single parent—2.9 million—live in poor families

Does the percentage of adolescents in low-income families vary by where they live?

Region
Figure 9: Percentage of adolescents in low-income families by region, 2014

The percentage of adolescents in low-income families varies substantially by region.

  • 43 percent of adolescents in the South—4.0 million—live in low-income families
  • 41 percent of adolescents in the West—2.4 million—live in low-income families
  • 36 percent of adolescents in the Midwest—1.9 million—live in low-income families
  • 34 percent of adolescents in the Northeast—1.4 million—live in low-income families
Residential Instability and Home Ownership
Figure 10: Residential instability and home ownership among adolescents by family income, 2014

Research suggests that stable housing is important for healthy child development. However, adolescents living in low-income families were about two times as likely as other children to have moved in the past year and more than three times as likely to live in families that rent, rather than own, a home (Figure 10).

  • 15 percent of adolescents in low-income families—1.4 million—moved in the last year
  • 8 percent of adolescents in families with above the low-income threshold—1.2 million—moved in the last year
  • 58 percent of adolescents in low-income families—5.6 million—live with a family that rents a home
  • 19 percent of adolescents in families with above the low-income threshold—2.9 million—live with a family that rents a home

Are adolescents in low-income families covered by health insurance?

Figure 11: Percentage of children uninsured in low-income and poor families by age, 2014
Figure 12: Type of health insurance coverage among adolescents by family income, 2014

Consistent with research suggesting older children in general are particularly at risk of being uninsured, low-income and poor adolescents are more likely to be without health insurance coverage than their younger counterparts. Approximately 11 percent living in low-income families and 10 percent living in poor families report no insurance coverage of any kind (Figure 11). Public insurance reaches more than one-half (65 percent) of low-income and over three-fourths (77 percent) of poor adolescents, while private health insurance covers close to one-third (30 percent) of low-income and 18 percent of poor adolescents (Figure 12).

  • 11 percent of adolescents living in low-income families—1.0 million—are uninsured
  • 30 percent of adolescents living in low-income families—2.9 million—are covered by private insurance
  • 65 percent of adolescents living in low-income families—6.3 million—are covered by public insurance

 

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