Pennsylvania Demographics of Young, Low-Income Children

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Research suggests that, on average, families need an income of about twice the federal poverty threshold to meet their most basic needs. Children living in families with incomes below this level—$48,678 for a family of four with two children in 2016—are referred to as low income. The United States measures poverty by an outdated standard developed in the 1960s.

In Pennsylvania, there are families with 841,785 young children.

Young Low-Income Children: 42% (352,853) of young children live in low-income families (National: 43%)

Parental Employment

46% (161,956) of young children in low-income families have at least one parent who is employed full-time, year-round compared to 89% (433,378) of young children in above low-income families.

33% (116,966) of young children in low-income families have at least one parent who is employed either part-year or part-time compared to 9% (45,694) of young children in above low-income families.

21% (73,931) of young children in low-income families do not have an employed parent compared to 2% (9,860) of young children in above low-income families.

Parental Education

82% (60,921) of young children whose parents do not have a high school degree live in low-income families.

68% (127,807) of young children whose parents have a high school degree, but no college education live in low-income families.

28% (164,125) of young children whose parents have some college or more live in low-income families.

Parental Marital Status

60% (211,784) of young children in low-income families live with a single parent.

17% (85,217) of young children in above low-income families live with a single parent.

Child’s Race/Ethnicity

31% (175,187) of young white children live in low-income families.

68% (75,151) of young black children live in low-income families.

70% (71,767) of young Hispanic children live in low-income families.

30% (8,546) of young Asian children live in low-income families.

Child’s Age

41% (170,323) of young children, under age 3, live in low-income families.

43% (182,530) of young children, ages 3 through 5, live in low-income families.

Residential Move

22% (78,554) of young children in low-income families moved in the last year.

13% (61,560) of young children in families that are above low-income moved in the last year.

Parental Nativity

48% (51,964) of young children of immigrant parents live in low-income families.

41% (300,889) of young children of native-born parents live in low-income families.

Home Ownership

34% (118,959) of young children in low-income families live in owner-occupied housing.

81% (393,915) of young children in above low-income families live in owner-occupied housing.

Parental Presence

5% (17,947) of young low-income children live in families with no parent present.

4% (17,295) of young above low-income children live in families with no parent present.

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Data Notes and Sources

Last Updated: November 18, 2018

Some graphs may not be shown because of extremely small sample sizes.

Because of rounding, not all figures will add up to 100%.

National data were calculated from the 2016 American Community Survey, representing information from 2016. State data were calculated from the 2015-2016 American Community Survey, representing information from the years 2012 to 2016.

Definitions

Low Income: Families and children are defined as low-income if the family income is less than twice the federal poverty threshold (see Poor).
Parent: A parent is defined as an individual over the age of 17 who lives with a dependent child. Among children who do not live with at least one parent, parental characteristics are those of the householder and/or the householder's spouse.
Poor: Families and children are defined as poor if family income is below the federal poverty threshold. The federal poverty threshold for a family of four with two children was $24,339 in 2016, $24,036 in 2015, and $24,008 in 2014.
Young Child: A young child is defined as an individual under the age of 6. Children living in group quarters and children living with only unrelated adults are excluded from these data.

For definitions of other terms, please refer to Explanations of Terms and Data Sources.

Demographics

All Children

Young Children

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