U.S. Census Bureau’s 2005 Poverty Estimates
The number of U.S. children living in poverty has increased from 13 million to 13.4 million since 2004, according to the latest report from the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, a division of the U.S. Census Bureau that calculates annual income for states, counties, and school districts.
Most striking was the rise in the number of children under the age of 5 living in poverty, increasing from 4.1 million in 2004 to 4.2 million in 2005. The highest percentages of children in this age group living in poverty were found in Louisiana, Mississippi, and the District of Columbia.
The report based its calculations on federal tax returns from families in each of the nation’s 14,000 school districts, and also looked at Food Stamp participation.
