Using the current official measure of poverty, child poverty rates continue to surpass those of others. However, there is growing consensus that the way poverty is currently measured in the United States is outdated. In this analysis we implement a new experimental poverty measure based on recommendations made by the National Academy of Sciences Panel on Poverty and Family Assistance, focusing on how the adoption of a new measure affects our understanding of child economic well-being.

We find that the current official poverty measure overstates the material disadvantage of children relative to others, in large part because of its restrictive definition of family resources. However, the child poverty rate under the experimental measure is still high in absolute terms, and it continues to surpass the adult poverty rate.