The U.S. Census Bureau's official poverty measure compares pre-tax cash income against a threshold of three times the cost of a minimally adequate diet in 1963, adjusted for inflation. Federal poverty thresholds aim to define and measure poverty over time, rather than describe the amount of income families need to live. The following indicators are based on the official poverty measure and come from the American Community Survey (ACS):*

• Children living in poverty (i.e., with incomes below their poverty threshold), overall and by race ethnicity
• Children living in deep poverty (i.e., with incomes below 50% of their poverty threshold)
• Children living in areas of concentrated poverty (i.e., where at least 30% of residents live in poverty)
• Income level for children as a percentage of their poverty threshold, overall and by family type
• Children living in low-income working families (i.e., with incomes below 200% of their poverty threshold and with at least one working parent)

Federal poverty guidelines are simplified federal poverty thresholds produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and used for administrative purposes such as determining eligibility for federal programs and benefits. Indicators of family income between 0-100% and 0-200% of federal poverty guidelines are provided for mothers with a recent birth. These estimates come from the Maternal and Infant Health Assessment and are available for California and its counties with the greatest number of births; in addition, state-level breakdowns by race/ethnicity and by type of prenatal health insurance coverage are provided.

The Census Bureau's Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) is an extension of the official poverty measure. SPM thresholds are adjusted to account for expenditures on clothing, utilities, and shelter, along with state-level differences in housing costs. To calculate family resources, the SPM adds non-cash government benefits and tax credits to cash income, and subtracts out-of-pocket work, medical, and child care expenses. National and state-level estimates of children living below their SPM poverty threshold come from the Current Population Survey and are available for children overall and by race/ethnicity.

The California Poverty Measure (CPM), a joint project of the Public Policy Institute of California and the Stanford University Center on Poverty and Inequality, incorporates California-specific threshold and resource adjustments, and allows for county-level and demographic subgroup estimates of child poverty. The following CPM indicators related to child poverty are available:

• Poverty thresholds for families with children by family composition, for renters and owners with mortgages
• Estimates of children living in poverty and deep poverty, overall and by age group, race/ethnicity, family type, family citizenship status, family education level, and family employment status
• Estimates of the extent to which social safety net programs reduce child poverty and deep poverty, by program type

A project of the Center for Women's Welfare at the University of Washington, the California Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Standard measures the amount of income a family of a certain composition in a specific county needs to adequately meet its basic needs without public or private assistance. Kidsdata.org provides self-sufficiency standards for six common family types at the county level along with state- and county-level estimates of the percentage of families with children living below their standard.

In addition to these measures kidsdata.org also offers:

• Median family income (the income level at which half of families earn more and half earn less), by family type, from ACS
• Household income distribution by quintile (the percentage of aggregate household income earned by each income quintile), from ACS
• Gini index of household income inequality (a summary measure of the difference between the observed distribution of household income and a perfectly equal distribution, ranging from 0 and 1), from ACS
• The number and rate of children participating in CalWORKs (California's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program), from the California Department of Social Services

*Depending on the indicator, ACS data are available as single-year estimates for counties and county groups, as five-year estimates for counties, cities, and school districts with populations of at least 10,000, or as five-year estimates for legislative districts.

The link between income and wellness is evident even for those living above the poverty threshold. A health gradient exists along the economic spectrum such that health status improves as income level increases; e.g., the health of those in the middle-income range tends to be inferior to those in higher-income groups (3). This is especially concerning given that income inequality in the U.S. has been increasing in recent decades (5).

Rates of poverty tend to be highest among children under age 5, those in immigrant or single-parent families, and African American/black, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Hispanic/Latino children (1, 3).

For more information, see kidsdata.org’s Research & Links section.

Sources for this narrative:

1.  American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Community Pediatrics. (2021). Poverty and child health in the United States. Pediatrics, 137(4), e20160339. Retrieved from: https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/137/4/e20160339/81482/Poverty-and-Child-Health-in-the-United-States

2.  National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2020). Birth settings in America: Outcomes, quality, access, and choice. National Academies Press. Retrieved from: https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25636/birth-settings-in-america-outcomes-quality-access-and-choice

3.  National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2019). A roadmap to reducing child poverty. National Academies Press. Retrieved from: https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25246/a-roadmap-to-reducing-child-poverty

4.  McLaughlin, M., & Rank, M. R. (2018). Estimating the economic cost of childhood poverty in the United States. Social Work Research, 42(2), 73-83. Retrieved from: https://academic.oup.com/swr/article-abstract/42/2/73/4956930

5.  Stone, C., et al. (2020). A guide to statistics on historical trends in income inequality. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Retrieved from: https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/a-guide-to-statistics-on-historical-trends-in-income-inequality

Rates of poverty among California women with a recent birth—and, by extension, their children—are especially high. Statewide, an estimated 41% of mothers with a birth in 2013-2014 lived in families with income below the federal poverty guideline ($23,850 for a family of four in 2014); for African American/black and Hispanic/Latina mothers, the poverty rate was 60%, compared with 20% or less for Asian/Pacific Islander and white mothers.

Income is not distributed evenly across California households and regions. Statewide and nationally, when households are divided by income into five equally sized groups, those in the highest quintile earned an estimated 52% of all household income in 2016-2020, compared with a 3% share of total income earned by households in the lowest quintile. Among counties with data, median annual income for families with children ranged from $48,294 in Tulare County to $182,607 in Marin County in 2016-2020. Marin County also had the highest level of household income inequality among counties with data in 2016-2020, as measured by the Gini index.

The CalWORKs program, which provides cash aid and services to needy families, served more than 665,000 California children—a rate of 77 per 1,000—in 2023. Among counties with data for 2024, participation in CalWORKs ranged from fewer than 9 children per 1,000 in San Mateo to more than 160 per 1,000 in Del Norte and Tulare.

For more information, see kidsdata.org’s Research & Links section or visit Public Policy Institute of California and California Budget and Policy Center. Also see Policy Implications on kidsdata.org under Food Security, Housing Affordability and Resources, Health Care, and Early Care and Education.

Sources for this narrative:

1.  Danielson, C., et al. (2021). California's future: Safety net. Public Policy Institute of California. Retrieved from: https://www.ppic.org/publication/californias-future-safety-net

2.  National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2019). A roadmap to reducing child poverty. National Academies Press. Retrieved from: https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25246/a-roadmap-to-reducing-child-poverty

3.  California Budget and Policy Center. (2024). The 2024-25 California state budget explained. Retrieved from: https://calbudgetcenter.org/resources/the-2024-25-california-state-budget-explained

4.  Children Now. (2024). 2024 California children's report card: A survey of kids’ well-being and roadmap for the future. Retrieved from: https://www.childrennow.org/portfolio-posts/2024-california-childrens-report-card

5.  California WIC Association. (2021). Linking WIC for health equity: Expanding access to WIC through horizontal integration. Retrieved from: https://www.calwic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Expanding-Access-to-WIC-Through-Horizontal-Integration_07_21.pdf

6.  Anderson, A., & Kimberlin, S. (2022). How California can support workers and families with the CalEITC. California Budget and Policy Center. Retrieved from: https://calbudgetcenter.org/resources/how-california-can-support-workers-and-families-with-the-caleitc

7.  Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (2022). Policy basics: The Child Tax Credit. Retrieved from: https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/the-child-tax-credit

8.  Mesquita, A., & Kimberlin, S. (2022). Who is experiencing housing hardship in California? California Budget and Policy Center. Retrieved from: https://calbudgetcenter.org/resources/who-is-experiencing-housing-hardship-in-california

9.  The Children's Partnership. (2021). Why is children's enrollment in Medi-Cal lagging in California at a time when children are in most need? Retrieved from: https://www.childrenspartnership.org/research/medical-brief

10.  California State Auditor. (2022). The Department of Health Care Services is still not doing enough to ensure that children in Medi-Cal receive preventive health services. Retrieved from: https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2022-502/index

11.  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. (2022). Office of Child Support Enforcement annual report to Congress FY 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/report/fy-2019-annual-report-congress

12.  Grusky, D. B., et al. (n.d.). Ending poverty in California: A blueprint for a just and inclusive economy. End Poverty in California. Retrieved from: https://endpovertyinca.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/policy-paper.pdf