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Population Profiles

  1. Child
    Beneficiaries
  2. Child Beneficiary
    Families
  3. Fully Insured
    Workers
  4. Marital Status
    & Poverty
  5. Middle Class
    Beneficiaries
  6. Never
    Beneficiaries
  7. Taxable Maximum
    Earners
  8. Veteran
    Beneficiaries

Child Beneficiaries, 2018–2020


Released: July 2023
  • Approximately 3.4 percent of all children under age 18 received a Social Security child benefit, with non-Hispanic Black children having a higher rate of benefit uptake (4.9 percent) relative to other racial-ethnic subgroups.
  • About 53 percent of child beneficiaries identified as non-Hispanic White, 20 percent as non-Hispanic Black, 18 percent as Hispanic of any race, 3 percent as Asian, and 7 percent as another race or multiracial.
  • Child beneficiaries were:
    • Disproportionately Black relative to all children, while Hispanic children were less likely to receive benefits.
    • Less likely to live with a head of household who had a college degree, was married, or was an immigrant.
Chart. Title: Child Characteristics. Pie chart series with tabular version below.
Show as table
Table equivalent for chart: Child Characteristics
Characteristic Incidence of child benefit receipt (%) Percentage of—
Child beneficiaries All children
Race/ethnicity  
Non-Hispanic White 3.6 53% 50%
Non-Hispanic Black 4.9 20% 13%
Hispanic (any race) 2.3 18% 26%
Asian 1.5 3% 6%
Other race or multiracial 4.5 7% 5%
Age  
Younger than 5 0.6 4% 26%
5–9 2.1 17% 27%
10–14 4.4 36% 28%
15–17 7.5 42% 19%
Chart. Title: Head of Household Characteristics. Pie chart series with tabular version below.
Show as table
Table equivalent for chart: Head of Household Characteristics
Characteristic Incidence of child benefit receipt (%) Percentage of householders of—
Child beneficiaries All children
Education  
Did not finish high school 3.4 11% 11%
High school graduate 4.2 62% 50%
College graduate 2.2 26% 39%
Marital status  
Married 2.4 48% 69%
Widowed 5.9 16% 9%
Divorced 5.9 32% 19%
Never married 2.7 3% 3%
Nativity status  
Immigrant 1.7 13% 22%
Native born 3.8 87% 78%

SOURCE: Social Security Administration (SSA) calculations of the 2019–2021 Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement matched to SSA benefit and earnings records and weighted to adjust for nonmatched respondents.

NOTES: Includes child beneficiaries who were under age 18 the entire year prior to the CPS survey year and who received benefits in every month of the calendar year. Excludes disabled adult children and students.

CPS data were pooled across years to increase sample size. To avoid duplicating households from consecutive survey waves, the calculations only include individuals living in households in their last four interviews for each survey year.