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Kids' Health Data Highlight: Children Living in Working Poor Households in 2016 (Infographic)
April 13, 2018:It is increasingly clear that health is determined not just by biological and clinical factors but to a greater extent by socio-demographic factors. With this in mind, we need data for monitoring the social determinants of health just as we do for monitoring biological and clinical determinants. The U.S. Census Bureau recently released estimates from the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), providing a data source that is ideal for precisely this purpose. The NSCH provides traditional measures of health status and access to care among children along with rich data on the social factors that determine health including family, neighborhood, school, and social context.
In the coming weeks, SHADAC will be highlighting state-specific findings from the 2016 NCSH on measures that illustrate where states are closer to achieving a culture of health and where improvements can be made. As additional years of NCSH data are released, we will be able to monitor trends in these indicators to track progress in developing a culture of health over time.
Kids Living in Working Poor Households
According to 2016 data from the NSCH, 14.4% of children nationwide (approximately 10,286,000 children) lived in working poor households in 2016.[1] Of these, roughly one-third (approximately 3,436,000) resided in ten states: Mississippi, New Mexico, Arizona, New York, Arkansas, Michigan, Nevada, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas.
In all, the percentage of children that lived in working poor households was statistically above the national average in two states and statistically below the national average in 16 states.
At 20.5%, Mississippi had the highest percentage of children living in working poor households, while New Hampshire, at 6.2%, had the lowest percentage of children living in working poor households.
Click on the infographic for additional state-level information about children living in working poor households.
Additional Kids' Health Data Highlights
Kids' Health in the U.S.: Difficulties Making or Keeping Friends in 2016
Kids' Health in the U.S.: Parental Attendance at Kids' Activities in 2016
Kids'Health in the U.S.: Living in Neighborhoods with No Amenities in 2016
Kids’ Health in the U.S.: Living in Supportive Neighborhoods in 2016
Kids’ Health in the U.S.: Trouble Affording Nutritious Meals in 2016
More about the NSCH
The NSCH was administered three times prior to 2016 – in 2003, 2007, and 2011/12. However, the 2016 NSCH is different because it integrated the NSCH with the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN) and introduced a number of new survey items, establishing a new baseline. Going forward, the NSCH will be administered annually. The survey is administered online and via mail, and survey results are weighted to represent the population of non-institutionalized children ages 0-17 who live in housing units nationally and in each state.
The full 2016 NSCH public-use file (PUF) is available on the Census Bureau’s NSCH page.
[1] This estimate includes children living in households with at least one full-time employed (working 50 of the last 52 weeks) parent with a household income below 100% of the federal poverty level.
