US child poverty rate falls to historic low in 2025, Census Bureau reports

The official U.S. child poverty rate fell to a historic low in 2025, while the nation’s overall poverty rate declined to one of its lowest levels on record and inflation-adjusted median household income reached a record high, according to figures released by the Census Bureau Sept. 15.

The data show the share of children under 18 living in poverty dropped by 1 percentage point, from 14.4% in 2024 to 13.4% in 2025. The figure was the lowest on record under the official measure, which compares a family’s pretax money income with a threshold adjusted for family size and composition. 

The overall official poverty rate also fell by 0.5 percentage points to 10.2% in 2025, marking its third consecutive annual decline and the lowest numerical rate in Census Bureau data dating to 1959. About 34.5 million Americans lived below the official poverty line. In its report, the bureau described the rate as “one of the lowest rates on record” because it was not statistically different from the previous low of 10.5% recorded in 2019.

The declines came as inflation-adjusted median household income rose 2.6% to $87,460, the highest level on record in data dating back to 1967, according to a separate Sept. 15 Census Bureau analysis.

The bureau set the 2025 poverty threshold for a family with two adults and two children at $32,649.

The Supplemental Poverty Measure — a broader measure that accounts for taxes, noncash government benefits, and expenses such as medical and work costs — placed the child and overall poverty rates at 13.4% and 13.1%, respectively. Neither rate changed significantly from 2024.

Refundable tax credits, including the Earned Income Tax Credit and the refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit, kept approximately 6.1 million people out of supplemental poverty in 2025, including 3.3 million children. Social Security lifted 28.8 million people above the supplemental poverty line. 

Out-of-pocket medical expenses had the opposite effect, pushing an estimated 7.7 million people into supplemental poverty. 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent celebrated the data during a House Financial Services Committee hearing Sept. 15 on the economy, calling the figures “several inconvenient facts” for the Trump administration’s political opponents, according to CNBC. 

White House spokesperson Olivia Wales credited President Donald Trump’s economic agenda with producing the gains, telling Newsweek that it delivered “historic working-class prosperity” during his first year back in office. She said Trump “remains laser-focused on doubling down on his winning economic agenda of tax cuts, deregulation, and energy abundance here at home to drive economic prosperity for everyday Americans.”