Basic Facts About Low-Income Children: Children 12 through 17 Years, 2014.

This fact sheet on adolescents living in low-income families in the United States begins by explaining that there are more than 14 million adolescents (ages 12-17) in the United States in 2014, and 40% live in low-income families and 19% live in poor families. Statistics are provided that indicate the percentage of adolescents living in low-income families has been on the rise, increasing from 35% in 2008 to 40% in 2014, adolescents are nearly twice as likely as adults 65 years and older to live in poor families, adolescents are less likely to live in low-income and poor families than younger children, white children comprise the largest share of all low-income children while Hispanics make up the largest share of poor children, Black, American Indian, and Hispanic children are disproportionately low-income and poor, higher levels of parental education, employed parents, and married parents decrease the likelihood that a child will live in a low-income or poor family, the majority of adolescents in low-income families live in the South, and 11% of adolescents in low-income families and 10% living in poor families do not have health insurance. 12 figures and 11 references.