Population Demographic Characteristics - Poverty Among Children Age 5-17
Summary Indicator Report Data View Options
Percentage of Children Age 5-17 Living in Poverty by County, New Mexico, 2019
Percentage of Children Age 5-17 Living in Poverty by School District, New Mexico, 2019
Percentage of Children Age 5-17 Living in Poverty by 108 New Mexico Small Areas, 2015-2019
Percentage of Children Age 5-17 Living in Poverty by U.S. States and District of Columbia, 2019
Why Is This Important?
Research suggests that living in poverty during early childhood is associated with lower than average academic performance that begins in kindergarten(1) and extends through elementary and high school. Living in poverty during early childhood is associated with lower than average rates of school completion.(2)
Definition
The estimated percentage of children under age 5-17 living in households whose income is at or below the federal poverty level. Poverty status is determined by comparing household income to poverty thresholds (income cutoffs). Thresholds vary by family size and number of children under 18 in the household. For instance, the poverty level for a family of four in 2021 is $26,500. For more information, see [https://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty-guidelines].
Data Sources
- New Mexico Population Estimates: University of New Mexico, Geospatial and Population Studies (GPS) Program.
(http://gps.unm.edu/) - U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates
(http://data.census.gov) - U.S. Census Bureau, Data Integration Division, Small Area Estimates Branch, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE)
(https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/saipe.html)
How the Measure is Calculated
| Numerator: | Estimated number of children under age 5-17 living in households whose income is at or below the federal poverty level. |
| Denominator: | The estimated number of children under age 5-17 in the population. |
How Are We Doing?
In 2017, 89,200 children, or one out of every four New Mexico school-aged children, 5 to 17 years old, were in families living in poverty.
How Do We Compare With the U.S.?
In 2017, the U.S. poverty rate for school-age children was 17.3% compared to the New Mexico rate of 24.6%. The poverty rates among the states ranged from 9.1% in New Hampshire to 27% in Mississippi.
Other Objectives
New Mexico Early Learning Indicator
More Resources
(1) 2 Mulligan, G.M., Hastedt, S., and McCarroll, J.C. (2012). First-Time Kindergartners in 2010-11: First Findings From the Kindergarten Rounds of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011) (NCES 2012-049). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. As cited in Children Living in Poverty(3). (2) Ross, T., Kena, G., Rathbun, A., KewalRamani, A., Zhang,J., Kristapovich, P., and Manning, E. (2012). Higher Education: Gaps in Access and Persistence Study (NCES 2012-046). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for EducationStatistics. As cited in Children Living in Poverty(3). (3) The Condition of Education 2015, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences. Downloaded from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/coe_cce.pdf on 7/9/15.