Children Facing Very High Hardship Rates

Some 19 million children (more than 1 in 4) live in a household that is behind on rent or mortgage payments, isn’t getting enough to eat, or both, we estimate based on Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey data from late June and July. Coming on top of extensive data showing severe, widespread hardship due to COVID-19 and the deep recession, these estimates provide further evidence that policymakers must act now on a new economic relief package.

Our estimates are substantially higher for Black and Hispanic homes, reflecting longstanding inequities that the current crisis has exacerbated. For about 42 percent of children in Black households and 36 percent in Hispanic households (the survey asks the race of the adult respondent, not the children), the household was behind on the rent or mortgage or not getting enough to eat, compared to 20 percent in both white and Asian households. Although the survey does not provide data for other individual racial groups, the rate was 34 percent for children in households with an American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, or multiracial respondent.

Estimates for states vary widely, from 16 percent in Iowa, Utah, and Vermont to 38 percent in Mississippi. (See Table 1.) Because the estimates are approximations, modest differences between states should be viewed cautiously.

Children in renter households, which tend to have lower incomes and savings than households with a mortgage, have particularly high hardship rates. Four in 10 children of renters — about 9 million children — live in a household that’s behind on the rent or not getting enough to eat. Here, too, there are significant disparities by race. Some 48 percent of children in Black renter households and 44 percent of children in Latino renter households live in households that are behind on the rent or not getting enough to eat, compared to 35 percent of children in white renter households. (See Table 2 for data on the number children of renters by state who live in a household that isn’t getting enough to eat or is behind on rent.)

Paying rent, in particular, is a struggle for many during the pandemic: 30 percent of children of renters live in a household that’s behind on its payment.

The figures above reflect children in households where an adult reported that the household (not necessarily the children) had “not enough to eat” sometimes or often in the last seven days, or did not pay last month’s rent or mortgage on time or had their rent or mortgage deferred.

To improve reliability, we averaged five weeks of Household Pulse Survey data, gathered from June 18 to July 21. About 85,000 to 100,000 adults responded each week. Because the survey was not designed to provide precise counts of children (but rather to provide more timely data on adult well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic than most household surveys), our figures are approximations, especially in smaller states.