Fewer Children Living With At Least One Unemployed Parent

In 2014, 7% of kids in Amer­i­ca — 4.7 mil­lion chil­dren total — lived with at least one unem­ployed par­ent. This is the low­est inci­dence of kids liv­ing with an unem­ployed par­ent since the Great Reces­sion. Also good news: This rate has steadi­ly declined, with 2.7 mil­lion few­er kids liv­ing with an unem­ployed par­ent rel­a­tive to 2009. One sta­tis­tic that hasn’t dropped steadi­ly dur­ing this same time­frame? The nation’s child pover­ty rate, which at 22% in 2014 still hov­ers high­er than pre-reces­sion levels. 

Across the coun­try, Alas­ka and Rhode Island have the high­est per­cent­age of kids (9%) liv­ing with at least one unem­ployed par­ent. North Dako­ta, Min­neso­ta and Utah have the low­est (3%). 

See more employ­ment sta­tis­tics — at the nation­al and state lev­el — in the KIDS COUNT Data Center.

• Chil­dren with at least one unem­ployed parent
• Unem­ploy­ment rate of parents