Child poverty in the United States more than doubled, and median household income declined, after pandemic-era government supports expired last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“This represents a return to child poverty levels prior to the pandemic,” Liana Fox, an assistant division chief at the Census Bureau, said during a news conference. “We did see the child tax credit had a substantial decrease in child poverty.”

The expanded child tax credit expired at the end of 2021; and other pandemic-related benefits expired within the past year. But the wind-down of those programs coincided with an increase in inflation during 2022; and the combined factors made 2022 a difficult year for some households.

The research into income, poverty and health insurance coverage also considered the differences for race and Hispanic origin. For example, the median household income in 2022 was $74,580, a decline of 2.3% from 2021. Asian Americans had the highest median household income, at almost $109,000, while Black Americans had the lowest, at about $53,000.

 

The reports reflected the sometimes-conflicting factors last year facing U.S. households, which included a robust jobs market, with the number of full-time workers increasing year-over-year, but also rising inflation and the end of pandemic-era stimulus benefits.

The official poverty rate of 11.5% in 2002 “was not statistically different” than from 2021, the Census Bureau said in its announcement. That data is based on cash resources for a household.

A secondary calculation, called supplemental poverty, includes cash and non-cash benefits, then subtracts certain expenses such as taxes and medical care. The Census Bureau said the supplemental poverty measure rate for 2022 was an overall 12.4%, an increase of 4.6 percentage points from 2021.

But the difference of resources and expenses between 2021 and 2022 was particularly noticeable among households with children. The “supplemental poverty measure” for that demographic was 5.2% in 2021, and had more than doubled to 12.4% in 2022.

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