Children (2008–2021)

Definition

Percent of children under age 18 (0-17) who are living in families with incomes below 100% of the federal poverty threshold in each geographic area.

Data for regions of Chicago and suburban Cook County are derived from Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA) data. Regions defined in the dataset encompass the following areas:

City of Chicago

• Central = Near North Side, Loop, and Near South Side PUMA

Chicago - North = Edgewater, Uptown, and Rogers Park PUMA; Lake View and Lincoln Park PUMA; West Ridge, Lincoln Square, and North Center PUMA

Chicago - Northwest = Irving Park, Albany Park, Forest Glen, and North Park PUMA; Logan Square, Avondale, and Hermosa PUMA; Portage Park, Dunning, and Jefferson Park PUMA

Chicago - South = Ashburn, Washington Heights, Morgan Park, and Beverly PUMA; Auburn Gresham, Roseland, Chatham, Avalon Park, and Burnside PUMA; Chicago Lawn, Englewood/West Englewood, and Greater Grand Corssing PUMA; South Chicago, Pullman, West Pullman, East Side, and South Deering PUMA; South Shore, Hyde Park, Woodlawn, Grand Boulevard, and Douglas PUMA

Chicago - Southwest = Brighton Park, New City, Bridgeport, and McKinley Park PUMA; Gage Park, Garfield Ridge, and West Lawn PUMA

Chicago - West = Austin, Belmont Cragin, and Montclare PUMA; North Lawndale, South Lawndale, Humboldt Park, East Garfield Park, and West Garfield Park PUMA; West Town, Near West Side, and Lower West Side PUMA

Suburban Cook County

Suburban Cook - Central = Cicero, Berwyn, and Oak Park Townships PUMA

Suburban Cook - North = Maine, Norwood Park Townships and Chicago City-Edison Park PUMA; Niles and Evanston Townships PUMA; Wheeling Township (North and East) PUMA

Suburban Cook - Northeast = Northfield and New Trier Townships PUMA

Suburban Cook - Northwest = Elk Grove and Wheeling (Southwest) Townships PUMA; Hanover and Schaumburg (Northwest) Townships PUMA; Palatine and Barrington Townships PUMA; Schaumburg Township (South and Central) PUMA

Suburban Cook - South Central = Bremen and Orland (East) Townships PUMA; Worth and Calumet Townships PUMA

Suburban Cook - South = Bloom and Rich Townships PUMA

Suburban Cook - Southeast = Thornton Township PUMA

Suburban Cook - Southwest = Orland (West and Central), Palos and Lemont Townships PUMA

Suburban Cook - West Central = Lyons and Stickney Townships PUMA; Proviso, Riverside, and River Forest Townships PUMA

Suburban Cook - West = Leyden, Norwood Park (South) Townships and Chicago City O'Hare PUMA

For more information on PUMAs, see here.

Data Source

U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, Poverty Status in the Past 12 Months by Sex by Age, 5-Year Estimates, Table B17001.

Notes

The federal poverty thresholds are updated each year by the U.S. Census Bureau and were established in 1964 using guidelines set by the Social Security Administration. Current thresholds can be found here.

UPDATED - December 2022

N.A. - Not Available. Estimates are suppressed when unreliable or the relative standard error is greater than 30%.

GEOGRAPHY - Data reflect the child’s place of residence.

DATE - ACS data reflect a 5-year pooled estimate. That is, the estimate is the result of data being continuously collected nearly every day for five years.

Last Updated

2023-12