The U.S. Census Bureau has released its 2024 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE), providing updated statistics on income and poverty for all states, counties, and school districts across the United States.
According to the new data, the median estimated poverty rate for children ages 5 to 17 in U.S. school districts was 12.5% in 2024. These estimates are significant because they are used to allocate federal funding under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The U.S. Department of Education will use these figures to determine fiscal year 2027 funding for states and school districts during the 2026-2027 academic year.
At the county level, median household income in 2024 ranged from $34,802 to $177,457, with a national median of $66,757. From 2023 to 2024, median household income increased in about one-tenth of counties while it decreased in less than two percent.
The report also found that county-level poverty rates varied widely in 2024—from as low as 3.8% up to 55.7%, with a median rate of 13.2%. During this period, poverty rates fell in approximately 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 ranged from 2.4% to as high as 76.7%, with a median value of 16.1%.
The SAIPE program provides additional tables detailing statistics such as median household income; numbers of people living in poverty across all age groups; counts of children under five years old living in poverty at the state level; and numbers related to children ages five through seventeen living in families below the poverty line both at state and district levels.
These estimates are generated using statistical models that combine sample survey data, decennial census information, and administrative records.
For more details on how these estimates are produced or for access to specific tables and methodology explanations, visit the SAIPE methodology page on the Census Bureau’s website.
