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Population Profiles

  1. Child
    Beneficiaries
  2. Child Beneficiary
    Families
  3. Fully Insured
    Workers
  4. Marital Status
    & Poverty
  5. Middle Class
    Beneficiaries
  6. Never
    Beneficiaries
  7. Taxable Maximum
    Earners
  8. Veteran
    Beneficiaries

Child Beneficiary Families, 2018–2020


Released: July 2023
  • Families with child beneficiaries had lower median annual income ($62,352) compared with all families with children ($78,777). Black child beneficiaries had the lowest median annual family income of $49,630.
  • Lower shares of child beneficiary families lived in poverty (11.4 percent) compared with all families with children, but child beneficiary families had a higher prevalence of near poverty.
  • Black child beneficiary families' poverty rate of 18.2 percent was significantly higher than other racial-ethnic subgroups, while Hispanic child beneficiary families had a higher prevalence of near poverty.
  • Social Security benefits are an important part of child beneficiaries' family income with child benefits constituting an average of 21 percent of total family income and combined child and adult benefits constituting an average of 40 percent of child beneficiary families' total income.
Chart. Title: Annual Family Income: At the 25th, median, and 75th percentiles. Boxplot chart with tabular version below.
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Table equivalent for chart: Annual Family Income (in dollars)
Percentile All children Social Security child beneficiaries
All Non-Hispanic White Non-Hispanic Black Hispanic (any race)
75th 139,236 99,834 107,918 81,179 92,682
Median 78,777 62,352 68,471 49,630 62,230
25th 39,826 35,824 38,596 31,459 37,619
Chart. Title: Share of Child Beneficiary Family Income from Social Security Benefits. Pie chart series with tabular version below.
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Table equivalent for chart: Share of Child Beneficiary Family Income From Social Security Benefits
Group Child benefits only Child and adult benefits
Mean Median Mean Median
All 21% 16% 40% 31%
Non-Hispanic White 22% 16% 40% 31%
Non-Hispanic Black 22% 15% 42% 32%
Hispanic (any race) 20% 17% 39% 29%
Chart. Title: Population Distribution of Family Income as a Percentage of the Federal Poverty Level. Stacked bar chart with tabular version below.
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Table equivalent for chart: Distribution of Family Income as a Percentage of the Federal Poverty Level
Family income as a percentage of the federal poverty level All children Social Security child beneficiaries
All Non-Hispanic White Non-Hispanic Black Hispanic (any race)
300% or more 49.2 41.3 48.4 29.3 35.3
200–299% 16.8 21.8 22.1 19.2 22.8
150–199% 9.7 12.7 8.8 22.0 14.6
100–149% 9.6 12.8 11.6 11.3 17.7
Below poverty level 14.6 11.4 9.0 18.2 9.7

SOURCE: Social Security Administration (SSA) calculations of the 2019–2021 Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement matched to SSA benefit and earnings records and weighted to adjust for nonmatched respondents.

NOTES: Includes child beneficiaries who were under age 18 the entire year prior to the CPS survey year and who received benefits in every month of the calendar year. Excludes disabled adult children and students.

Additional racial-ethnic subgroups are not shown because of their small sample size.

CPS data were pooled across years to increase sample size. To avoid duplicating households from consecutive survey waves, the calculations only include individuals living in households in their last four interviews for each survey year.

Poverty status and income are for the year prior to the survey. Survey-reported income from Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, and earnings were replaced with their administrative equivalents. CPS data does not include Social Security child benefits income of those under age 15. Because of differences in data and methods, income and poverty results may differ from other published statistics.