Research and Links
Family Income and Poverty (see data for this topic)
- Websites with Related Information
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- California Budget and Policy Center
- Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP): Income and Work Supports
- Center for the Study of Social Policy: Income and Food Security
- Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
- First Focus: Poverty and Family Economics
- Institute for Women's Policy Research
- MDRC: Work and Income Security
- National Center for Children in Poverty: Child Poverty
- Opportunity Insights
- Pew Charitable Trusts: Financial Security and Mobility
- Public Policy Institute of California
- Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity
- Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality
- Supplemental Poverty Measure, U.S. Census Bureau
- U.S. Partnership on Mobility from Poverty, Urban Institute
- Key Reports and Research
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- A Guide to Understanding Poverty Measures Used to Assess Economic Well-Being in California, 2019, California Budget and Policy Center, Anderson, A., & Kimberlin, S.
- Basic Facts About Low-Income Children: Children Under 18 Years, 2016, National Center for Children in Poverty, Koball, H., & Jiang, Y.
- California's Future: Social Safety Net, 2019, Public Policy Institute of California, Danielson, C.
- Can Income-Related Policies Improve Population Health?, 2015, Urban Institute & Virginia Commonwealth University Center on Society and Health, Aron, L., et al.
- Child Poverty in the United States, 2016, Academic Pediatrics, Dreyer, B., et al. (Eds.)
- Children’s Health Programs in California: Promoting a Lifetime of Health and Well-Being, 2015, California Budget and Policy Center, Schumacher, K.
- Escaping Poverty: Predictors of Persistently Poor Children’s Economic Success, 2017, U.S. Partnership on Mobility from Poverty, Ratcliffe, C., & Kalish, E.
- Five Facts Everyone Should Know About Deep Poverty, 2015, California Budget and Policy Center, Anderson, A.
- Geography of Child Poverty in California, 2017, Public Policy Institute of California, Bohn, S., & Danielson, C.
- Making Ends Meet: How Much Does It Cost to Support a Family in California?, 2017, California Budget and Policy Center, Kimberlin, S., & Rose, A.
- Neighborhood Adversity, Child Health, and the Role for Community Development, 2015, Pediatrics, Jutte, D. P., et al.
- Our Kids, Our Future: Solutions to Child Poverty in the U.S., 2018, U.S. Child Poverty Action Group
- Policies to Promote Child Health, 2015, The Future of Children
- Poverty and Child Health in the United States, 2016, Pediatrics, American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Community Pediatrics
- Race and Economic Opportunity in the United States: An Intergenerational Perspective, 2019, National Bureau of Economic Research, Chetty, R., et al.
- Recommended Strategies to Address Deep Child Poverty and Child Poverty in California, 2018, Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty Task Force
- Reducing Child Poverty in California: A Look at Housing Costs, Wages, and the Safety Net, 2017, Public Policy Institute of California, Bohn, S., & Danielson, C.
- Struggling to Stay Afloat: The Real Cost Measure in California 2019, United Ways of California, Baum Block, B., et al.
- The Cost of Being Californian: A Look at the Economic Health of California Families, 2018, Insight Center for Community Economic Development, Bhattacharya, J., & Price, A.
- The Ethical and Policy Implications of Research on Income Inequality and Child Well-Being, 2015, Pediatrics, Pickett, K. E., & Wilkinson, R. G.
- What Explains the Widespread Material Hardship Among Low-Income Families with Children?, 2018, Urban Institute, Karpman, M., et al.
- County/Regional Reports
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- 2018-19 California County Scorecard of Children's Well-Being, Children Now
- 2019 Santa Clara County Children's Data Book, Santa Clara County Office of Education & Kids in Common
- A Portrait of Los Angeles County: Los Angeles County Human Development Report 2017-2018, Measure of America, Lewis, K., & Burd-Sharps, S.
- A Portrait of Sonoma County: Sonoma County Human Development Report 2014, Measure of America, Burd-Sharps, S., & Lewis, K.
- Annual Report on the Conditions of Children in Orange County, Orange County Children's Partnership
- Community Health Assessment and Community Health Improvement Plan, Los Angeles County Dept. of Public Health
- Important Facts About Kern’s Children, Kern County Network for Children
- Inequality and Economic Security in Silicon Valley, 2016, California Budget and Policy Center, Reidenbach, L., et al.
- Live Well San Diego Report Card on Children, Families, and Community, 2017, The Children's Initiative & Live Well San Diego
- Orange County Community Indicators Report, Orange County Community Indicators Project
- San Mateo County All Together Better, San Mateo County Health
- Santa Clara County Public Health Department: Open Data Portal
- Santa Monica Youth Wellbeing Report Card, Santa Monica Cradle to Career
- The Color of Wealth in Los Angeles, 2016, Duke University, et al., De La Cruz-Viesca, M., et al.
- Youth Need Data, Get Healthy San Mateo County
- More Data Sources For Family Income and Poverty
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- 2019 KIDS COUNT Data Book, Annie E. Casey Foundation
- California Family Needs Calculator, Insight Center for Community Economic Development
- California Health and Human Services Open Data Portal, California Health and Human Services Agency
- California Health Interview Survey, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
- Child Trends Databank: Children in Poverty
- Community Commons: Community Health Needs Assessments
- Geography of Child Poverty in California: Interactive Map, Public Policy Institute of California
- Health, United States, 2018 – Data Finder, National Center for Health Statistics
- Maternal and Infant Health Assessment (MIHA), California Dept. of Public Health & University of California San Francisco
- The Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey, Urban Institute
- U.S. Census Bureau: Poverty
Learn More About This Topic
- Why This Topic Is Important
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Income and well being are intricately linked. Poverty can alter children's developmental trajectories in cognitive, socio-emotional, and physical health (1). The effects of poverty on child health and well being can begin during pregnancy, as low-income women are more likely to experience malnutrition and stress, and are less likely to receive adequate prenatal care (2). Children who face economic hardship when they are young, or who experience deep and prolonged poverty, are at greatest risk for poor outcomes (1). The effects of poverty and the stress associated with it can be lasting, contributing to increased risk of dropping out of school, poor adult health, and poor employment outcomes, among other adverse consequences (1, 3, 4). The impacts extend beyond individuals, too. For example, it is estimated that the total annual cost of child poverty in the U.S. is more than a trillion dollars, due in part to loss of economic productivity and increased health costs (5). In addition, for every dollar spent on poverty reduction strategies, the U.S. could save an estimated $7 related to the economic costs of poverty (5).
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 (6).Rates of poverty tend to be highest among children under age 5, those in single-parent families, and African American/black, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian/Alaska Native children (4, 7).
For more information on family income and poverty, see kidsdata.org’s Research & Links section.
Sources for this narrative:
1. American Academy of Pediatrics, Council on Community Pediatrics. (2016). Poverty and child health in the United States. Pediatrics, 137(4), e20160339. Retrieved from: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/137/4/e20160339
2. Hamad, R., & Rehkopf, D. H. (2015). Poverty, pregnancy, and birth outcomes: A study of the Earned Income Tax Credit. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 29(5), 444-452. Retrieved from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4536129
3. Aron, L., et al. (2015). Can income-related policies improve population health? Urban Institute & Virginia Commonwealth University Center on Society and Health. Retrieved from: http://www.urban.org/research/publication/can-income-related-policies-improve-population-health
4. Child Trends Databank. (2019). Children in poverty. Retrieved from: http://www.childtrends.org/?indicators=children-in-poverty
5. 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
6. Stone, C., et al. (2018). 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
7. Bohn, S., & Danielson, C. (2017). Geography of child poverty in California. Public Policy Institute of California. Retrieved from: http://www.ppic.org/publication/geography-of-child-poverty-in-california - Policy Implications
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Poverty has multiple causes and dimensions, many of which public policy can address. Maintaining a public safety net for pregnant women and families lacking adequate resources for food, clothing, health care, and shelter can mitigate poverty (1, 2). Other strategies, such as tax credits and parental work support, also can help lift families out of poverty. Reducing child poverty, and income inequality more broadly, requires a long-term commitment from leaders at the local, state, and federal levels, as well as a broad policy strategy targeting diverse root causes. While California has made strides in recent years, including a new state Earned Income Tax Credit and minimum wage increases, continued efforts are needed to ensure that all children and families have the opportunity to thrive (1). This is especially important given the current national policy context and uncertainty around federal safety net programs.
Policy and program options that could influence family income and poverty include:
- Maintaining and strengthening CalWORKs (California's version of the federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program which provides cash assistance and employment support to families), ensuring that benefits support an adequate living standard and families receive the assistance necessary to transition from welfare to work (1, 3, 4)
- Ensuring that eligible families enroll in safety net programs—e.g., CalFresh (California's version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps), the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and free or reduced-price school meals—through outreach and elimination of administrative barriers; also, ensuring that safety net programs have the capacity to expand during economic downturns, when unemployment and family needs increase (1, 4, 5)
- Maintaining and strengthening tax credits aimed at reducing poverty among families, e.g., the federal Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, and raising awareness about the California Earned Income Tax Credit (1, 6, 7)
- Extending refundable state tax credits to all families with children, irrespective of immigration status, and including those with no earned income (7)
- Increasing access to high-quality, affordable child care in a variety of settings, especially for low-income children, by capitalizing on the expansion of federal and state subsidies for early childhood programs and ensuring that eligible children receive subsidies (1, 8)
- Strengthening and increasing participation in California's Paid Family Leave program by raising the rate of earnings replacement and providing job protection for those who take time away from work to care for or bond with a new child (9)
- Promoting state and local policies to increase the supply of affordable housing, such as expanding housing bonds, supporting inclusionary zoning requirements, and creating other funding mechanisms (10)
- Adjusting state tax credits to account for regional variation in the cost of living, and expanding eligibility for safety net programs in particularly high-cost areas (7, 11)
- Ensuring comprehensive and consistent benefits across public and private health insurance carriers, so that all families can access high-quality, affordable care; this may include increasing Medi-Cal provider rates, reducing the administrative burden on providers, and developing a tool to regularly monitor children's access to quality care in Medi-Cal (8)
- Continuing to strengthen child support enforcement programs that work effectively with non-custodial parents and ensure that support reaches the families that need it (12)
For more policy ideas and information on this topic see kidsdata.org’s Research & Links section or visit the Public Policy Institute of California, the California Budget and Policy Center, or the Center for Law and Social Policy. Also see Policy Implications on kidsdata.org under Unemployment, Housing Affordability, and Homelessness.
Sources for this narrative:
1. Danielson, C. (2019). California's future: Social safety net. Public Policy Institute of California. Retrieved from: http://www.ppic.org/publication/californias-future-social-safety-net
2. Page, M. (2017). Safety net programs have long-term benefits for children in poor households. UC Davis Center for Poverty Research. Retrieved from: https://poverty.ucdavis.edu/policy-brief/safety-net-programs-have-long-term-benefits-children-poor-households
3. Davis, L. M., et al. (2016). Evaluation of the SB 1041 reforms to California's CalWORKs welfare-to-work program: Findings regarding the initial policy implementation and outcomes. RAND Corporation. Retrieved from: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1348.html
4. Schumacher, K. (2015). Even CalWORKs and CalFresh food assistance combined fails to lift families out of poverty. California Budget and Policy Center. Retrieved from: http://calbudgetcenter.org/resources/even-calworks-and-calfresh-food-assistance-combined-fails-to-lift-families-out-of-poverty
5. California Department of Public Health, Center for Family Health. (2016). Making connections: Understanding women's reasons for not enrolling in WIC during pregnancy, California 2010-2012. Retrieved from: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CFH/DMCAH/MIHA/CDPH Document Library/MIHA-MakingConnections-2010-2012.pdf
6. Anderson, A. (2017). California should do more to raise awareness of the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC). California Budget and Policy Center. Retrieved from: http://calbudgetcenter.org/resources/california-raise-awareness-california-earned-income-tax-credit-caleitc
7. Bohn, S, & Danielson, C. (2017). Reducing child poverty in California: A look at housing costs, wages, and the safety net. Public Policy Institute of California. Retrieved from: http://www.ppic.org/publication/reducing-child-poverty-in-california-a-look-at-housing-costs-wages-and-the-safety-net
8. Children Now. (2018). 2018 California children's report card: A review of kids' well-being and roadmap for the future. Retrieved from: https://www.childrennow.org/portfolio-posts/18reportcard
9. Stanczyk, A. (2016). Paid family leave may reduce poverty following a birth: Evidence from California. Employment Instability, Family Well-being, and Social Policy Network Measurement Group. Retrieved from: https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/voices.uchicago.edu/dist/5/1068/files/2018/05/stanczyk_einetbrief-13l9z7e.pdf
10. Johnson, H., & Cuellar Mejia, M. (2019). California's future: Housing. Public Policy Institute of California. Retrieved from: http://www.ppic.org/publication/californias-future-housing
11. Bohn, S, & Danielson, C. (2017). Geography of child poverty in California. Public Policy Institute of California. Retrieved from: http://www.ppic.org/publication/geography-of-child-poverty-in-california
12. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. (2018). Office of Child Support Enforcement Annual Report to Congress FY 2016. Retrieved from: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/resource/fy-2016-annual-report-to-congress - How Children Are Faring
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In 2017, an estimated 18% of California children lived below the federal poverty threshold ($24,858 annually for a family of two adults and two children). Across counties with data in 2013-2017, official child poverty rates ranged from less than 10% in Placer County and parts of the Bay Area to more than 33% in some regions of the San Joaquin Valley. In Fresno and Del Norte counties, more than one in six children lived in deep poverty—i.e., on annual income lower than half the federal poverty threshold ($12,429 for two adults and two children in 2017).
The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) accounts for expenses (e.g., state-level differences in housing costs) and resources (e.g., government safety net program benefits) not captured in the official poverty measure. According to SPM estimates, 23% of California children lived in poverty in 2014-2016, compared with 16% nationwide. Among California racial/ethnic groups with data, SPM estimates ranged from fewer than one in eight white children living in poverty (12%) to almost one in three Hispanic/Latino children (31%).
The California Poverty Measure (CPM) builds on the SPM by adjusting for California-specific safety net policies and for regional variation in the cost of living within the state. CPM data from 2014-2016 show that 22% of children statewide lived in poverty and 5% lived in deep poverty. In the absence of social safety net programs, it is estimated that the child poverty rate would have been 14 percentage points higher and the deep poverty rate 12 percentage points higher during this period. CPM child poverty rates vary widely across counties, from 11% in Placer County to 28% in Los Angeles County, among regions with data in 2014-2016. Overall, children whose parents are single, non-U.S. citizens, or who did not finish high school tend to experience higher rates of CPM poverty and deep poverty than children in families with married parents, U.S. citizens, and higher levels of educational attainment.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 2017, 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 $41,059 in Tulare to $153,522 in Marin in 2013-2017. Marin County also had the highest level of household income inequality among counties with data, as measured by the Gini index. Several other counties were among the highest for both median income for families with children and income inequality: San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Cruz were in the top ten for each measure.
The CalWORKs program, which provides cash aid and services to needy families, served more than 835,000 California children—a rate of 90 per 1,000—in 2018. Among counties with data, participation in CalWORKs ranged from 12 per 1,000 children in San Mateo County to 201 per 1,000 in Del Norte County.
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