University of Illinois Urbana‑Champaign

Poverty Levels: Children Age 5 and Under Living at Various Federal Poverty Levels (FPLs)

Federal poverty levels (FPLs) are often used to determine financial eligibility for federal, state, and local government programs

steps in upward direction

The Census Bureau uses a set of income thresholds that vary by family size and composition to determine who is in poverty. If a family’s total income is less than the family’s threshold, then that family and every individual in it is considered to be living in poverty. The poverty thresholds are used for statistical purposes.

The poverty guidelines are another version of the federal poverty measure. Each year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issues the poverty guidelines, often referred to as federal poverty levels (FPLs).

Source of data: IECAM demographers prepare poverty estimates based on the Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Program and the American Community Survey, 5-year estimates.

Data available on IECAM

Latest data: 2022

IECAM presents poverty level numbers for children age 5 and under who are living in families with income below 50%, 100%, 130%, 185%, 200%, and 400% of the poverty level.

Numbers are provided for children under age 1, age 2, age 3, age 4, age 5, and age 5 and under.

These data are available for all geographic areas on the IECAM database and Regional Reports.

Note: Because of pandemic-related disruptions, the U.S. Census Bureau has warned there will be somewhat larger margins of error for data collected in 2020. This will affect the 5-year American Community Survey (ACS) estimates reported on IECAM for 2020, 2021, 2022, and, when available, 2023 and 2024.

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