CHN’s Human Needs Watch: Tracking Hardship, September 30, 2024
September 30, 2024
The Census edition. There’s a lot to report with the Census Bureau in recent weeks and we want to walk you quickly through the numbers. The brief glimpse: bad news on poverty, good news on health care, good news on income.
The bad news: The Child Tax Credit (CTC), which lifted more than 5.3 million people out of poverty in 2021, only helped about 2.3 million out of poverty in 2023, a reduction of nearly 3 million people. That was because the 2021 Child Tax Credit was much larger ($3,000 – $3,600 per child in 2021; a maximum of $2,000 in 2023). And, perhaps most important, after the 2021 CTC expansion expired, the poorest families were no longer eligible at all, and many low-income families only received a partial credit.
The better news: the percentage of uninsured children nationwide declined from 7.5 percent in 2013 to 5.4% in 2023. And the percentage of uninsured working age adults dropped nationwide from 20.5 percent in 2013 to 11 percent in 2023.
Finally, there is good news on the income front. The Census Bureau reported a 4.0 percent increase in median household income – the first statistically significant increase since the first pre-pandemic year of 2019.
Below, see some of the highlights (and lowlights) of Census survey numbers and other related data – and join us in support of adequate funding to ensure high quality Census data.
818,000
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According to the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University, if an expanded Child Tax Credit had been in place in 2023, it would have moved 818,000 Black children, 1.47 million Latino children, and 938,000 White children out of poverty. Tweet this.
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19 million |
An estimated 1 in 4 children – or roughly 19 million children – got less than the full $2,000-per-child tax credit or none at all in 2022 because their family incomes were too low. This included nearly half of Black children, 4 in 10 American Indian or Alaska Native children, more than one in three Latino children, and about one in three children living in rural areas. Tweet this.
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7.9%
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The American Community Survey, Current Population Survey, and National Health Interview Survey all recorded low uninsured rates in 2023: 7.9% in the ACS, 8.0% in the CPS, and 7.6% in the NHIS. For the ACS and the NHIS, these uninsured rates marked an all-time low, while for the CPS the rate was statistically unchanged from its record low in 2022. Tweet this.
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$1,354
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The median cost of housing for renters rose from $1,354 to $1,406 (after adjusting for inflation) from 2022 to 2023, according to the American Community Survey. Tweet this.
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25.6%
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Just over a quarter of U.S. renters of all income levels are spending more than half of their income on housing. 30.6% of Black renters are spending half or more of their income on rent, compared to 23.4% of White renters. Tweet this.
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1 in 3;
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More than 1 in 3 (36.4%) of households with incomes under $75,000 are paying half or more of their income on rent; for households with incomes less than $50,000, 47.1% are paying half or more of their income on rent. (American Community Survey, 2023, Table B25074, calculations by CHN).
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12.9%,
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In 2023, 12.9% of all Americans were in poverty, according to the Supplemental Poverty Measure, up from 12.4% in 2022.
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18.1%,16.9%
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Poverty rose for Blacks, from 16.9% in 2022 to 18.1% in 2023; it also rose for Hispanics (may be of any race), from 19.3% in 2022 to 20.9% in 2023.It was different for non-Hispanic Whites; poverty declined for them from 9.1% in 2022 to 8.8% in 2023. (See CHN’s First Look compilation of Census data.)
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x2 |
The poverty rate for Black and Hispanic children was more than double the rate for White/non-Hispanic children in 2023. Using the Supplemental Poverty Measure, the White/non-Hispanic child poverty rate was 7.2%; for Black children, it was 19.2%; for Hispanic (may be of any race) children, it was 22%. (In CHN’s First Look.)
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22.8%
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In 2023. 22.8% of people with disabilities were considered poor; that figure was down slightly from 23.0% in 2022.
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-2% |
This year, the U.S. House of Representatives has proposed a 2% cut to the Census Bureau budget. This cut is both below the Bureau’s current funding level and is well below what independent census experts say is needed – especially given the need to fund work to prepare for the 2030 Census.
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