The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the 2024 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE), showing that the median estimated poverty rate for children ages 5 to 17 in U.S. school districts was 12.5% in 2024. The SAIPE program provides single-year income and poverty statistics for all 3,143 counties and 13,126 school districts across the country.
These estimates are important for allocating federal funding under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Title I funds are distributed to school districts based on the number and percentage of children from low-income families. The U.S. Department of Education will use these 2024 estimates to determine fiscal year 2027 funding for states and school districts during the 2026-2027 academic year.
In terms of household income, county-level median figures ranged from $34,802 to $177,457 in 2024, with a national median of $66,757 across all counties. From 2023 to 2024, median household income increased in about one-tenth of counties while it decreased in less than two percent.
County-level poverty rates varied widely as well, ranging from a low of 3.8% to a high of 55.7%, with a national county median at 13.2%. Between 2023 and 2024, poverty rates declined in roughly four-and-a-half percent of counties but rose in nearly two percent.
For school-age children specifically (ages 5 to 17), county-level poverty rates spanned from as low as 2.4% up to as high as 76.7%, with a median rate at the county level standing at 16.1%.
Additional tables released by the Census Bureau include statistics on median household income; numbers of people living in poverty across different age groups; and breakdowns by state and school district populations including children both younger than five years old and those aged five through seventeen living in families below the poverty line.
The SAIPE program uses statistical model-based methods that draw on sample surveys, decennial census data, and administrative records to produce its estimates.
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