The U.S. Census Bureau has released its 2024 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE), which provide single-year income and poverty statistics for all 3,143 counties and 13,126 school districts across the United States.
According to the new data, the median estimated poverty rate among children ages 5 to 17 in U.S. school districts was 12.5% in 2024. These estimates are important because they are used to allocate 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 school year for Title I and other federal education programs.
The report shows that county-level median household incomes in 2024 ranged from $34,802 to $177,457, with a median of $66,757 nationwide. From 2023 to 2024, median household income increased in about one out of every ten counties while decreasing in fewer than two percent.
County-level poverty rates varied widely in 2024—from a low of 3.8% up to a high of 55.7%, with a national county median at 13.2%. The overall poverty rate decreased in just over four percent of counties but rose slightly in nearly two percent between the two years.
For school-age children specifically (ages 5 to 17), county-level poverty rates ranged from as low as 2.4% up to as high as 76.7%, with a national median rate at this age group standing at 16.1%.
Additional SAIPE tables include statistics on state-level median household income; counts of people of all ages living in poverty; numbers for children under five living in poverty; counts for children ages five through seventeen living in families below the poverty line; and numbers for those under eighteen experiencing poverty conditions. At the school district level, available estimates cover total population size, number of children aged five through seventeen, and number within that age group whose families live below the federal poverty threshold.
The SAIPE program produces these estimates using statistical model-based methods that draw on sample survey results, decennial census data, and various administrative sources.
For more information on how these estimates are produced or details about methodology, visit the SAIPE methodology page.
