Child poverty increased in 2010; more than 1 in 5 children are poor

Where are the Republicans telling these children to get a job? Where is Herman Cain telling these children it's their own damn fault they're poor? George Bush and the GOP looted this country and now they scream that we're broke. We're not broke. "We" have just been giving the results of our increased productivity to rich people for the last 30 years, and it has to stop. Occupy the voting booth! More and better Democrats!--SS

Child poverty increased in 2010; more than 1 in 5 children are poor:

The Census Bureau has released more information breaking down the picture of poverty in the United States. We've seen the overall income and poverty numbers, poverty rates by state and deep poverty. Now we get a more detailed picture of child poverty (PDF). The big number? There were 15.75 million poor children in the U.S. in 2010.

• The poverty rate for children under 18 increased from 20 percent in 2009 to 21.6 percent in 2010. That translates to 1.1 million more children living in poverty.


• Unsurprisingly, there were racial disparities in child poverty—the poverty rate for black children was 38.2 percent; for Hispanic children, 32.3 percent; for white children, 17 percent; and for Asian children, 13 percent. That means that 14.4 percent of children are black, but 25.6 percent of poor children are black, while "one of every five children in the United States was of Hispanic origin. However, Hispanic children made up one of every three children who lived in poverty in the United States in 2010."


• Despite the racial disparities, child poverty grew for every racial group in 2010, and white children saw the largest numerical increase (due to their majority status in the population as a whole).


• Ten states and the District of Columbia had child poverty rates of 25 percent or higher: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.


• States with below average child poverty were led by New Hampshire, at just 10 percent, while Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Dakota, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming were between 12.5 and 16.5 percent.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.