Nearly 10 million American children are living in poverty, the most since 2018, according to the latest Census Bureau figures from 2023.
Tens of millions more—like the Meazler kids—are precariously close. Their families have been pushed to the edge by a storm of economic factors, including the expiration of Covid-era relief programs and the impacts of inflation on food and housing.
The strain is expected to be worsened by cuts to federal spending on aid programs, including food benefits and Medicaid. President Trump on July 4 signed legislation passed by Congress that reduces funding and tightens work requirements for government assistance, and will likely result in less food aid and millions losing health coverage.
Even before the new cuts, several markers show that households with children are falling behind, though statistics around poverty have been complicated by the upheaval the pandemic brought to jobs and living arrangements, and the unprecedented federal aid distributed in response.
The share of families with children living in poverty jumped to 12.9% in 2023, the most recent year available, after plummeting to a record low of 5.6% in 2021, driven down by temporary pandemic programs like the expanded Child Tax Credit and extra unemployment insurance, according to census data compiled by the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University.
Poverty for all ages has inched up, but no other age demographic has seen a sharper rise in poverty between 2021 and 2023 than children, data compiled by the center show.
Earning More but in Worse Shape: Hardship Overwhelms Many American Families
— Lindsay Wise (@lindsaywise) August 5, 2025
Nearly half of kids in the U.S. live in households below the middle class as inflation and the end of Covid relief hit working parentshttps://t.co/MmvB2XmIdG via @WSJ