Monthly Poverty Rate by age group
Child poverty spiked from 12% to 17% following the expiration of monthly child tax credit payments at the end of 2021.
Estimated monthly poverty rates by age group, U.S.
Jan 2020-May 2022
Source: Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University and Census Bureau, PEP. Notes: These monthly estimates are based on the supplemental poverty rate, which includes after-tax income and in-kind benefits. These estimates include the impact of earned income tax credits (EITC), child tax credits (CTC), economic impact payments (stimulus checks), as well as unemployment, SNAP, and other benefits.
The American Rescue Plan provided monthly Child Tax Credit (CTC) payments from July through December 2021, raising children out of poverty such that the child poverty rate fell to about 12% each month. In July 2021, food insecurity among CTC recipients fell by one-quarter.1 The loss of these CTC payments put children back into poverty. After their expiration in December 2021, child poverty spiked to 17% in January 2022, where, according to the most recent data, it remains (after a temporary dip in March when families received tax refunds).
The chronic stress that impoverished children experience actually disrupts the development of the brain. The accumulated burdens of economic hardship — including uncertainty about whether there will be enough food to eat each day, frequent home moves, exposure to violence, and lack of supervision when parents work irregular schedules in low-wage jobs — lead to chronic stress that adversely impacts brain architecture.2,3 Children living in poverty develop less gray matter volumes which, in turn, negatively impacts their school readiness, and results in later difficulties in memory and self-regulation.4,3 Large-scale, long-term studies have found that increasing government support for children boosts their academic achievement, increases their earnings as adults, decreases their likelihood of needing government support as adults, and reduces their likelihood of becoming incarcerated.5,6
“Association of the Implementation of Child Tax Credit Advance Payments With Food Insufficiency in US Household”. Schafer, Gutiérrez, Ettinger, et. al. JAMA Network. January, 2022. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2788110
“Irregular Work Scheduling and Its Consequences”. Golden. Economic Policy Institute. April, 2015. https://www.epi.org/publication/irregular-work-scheduling-and-its-consequences/
“Excessive Stress Disrupts the Architecture of the Developing Brain”. National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. January, 2014. https://developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2005/05/Stress_Disrupts_Architecture_Developing_Brain-1.pdf
“Association of Child Poverty, Brain Development, and Academic Achievement”. Hair, Hanson, Wolfe, and Pollack. JAMA Pediatrics. December, 2015. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4687959/
“Is the Social Safety Net a Long-Term Investment? Large-Scale Evidence from the Food Stamps Program”. Bailey, Hoynes, Rossin-Slater, and Walker. National Bureau of Economic Research. April, 2020. https://www.nber.org/papers/w26942
“Let the Child Tax Credit work”. Berlin, Gale. Brookings. July, 2022. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2022/07/07/let-the-child-tax-credit-work/
