Pennsylvania Demographics of Young, Poor Children
For 2016, the federal poverty threshold is $24,339 for a family of four with two children. Children living in families with incomes below the federal poverty threshold are referred to as poor. But research suggests that, on average, families need an income of about twice the federal poverty threshold to meet their basic needs. The United States measures poverty by an outdated standard developed in the 1960s.
In Pennsylvania, there are families with 841,785 young children.
Young Poor Children: 21% (179,580) of young children live in poor families (National: 21%)
Parental Employment
Parental Education
Parental Marital Status
Child’s Race/Ethnicity
Child’s Age
Residential Move
Parental Nativity
Home Ownership
Parental Presence
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.
The demographic findings on this page were calculated using federal poverty thresholds issued by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more information about federal poverty thresholds, see the US Census website.
For definitions of other terms, please refer to Explanations of Terms and Data Sources.