California’s young children: Demographic, social, and economic conditions

The social and economic circumstances of California’s young children are a matter of widespread policy concern. These circumstances vary substantially by race and ethnicity, nativity and immigrant generation, and region. This issue of California Counts describes that variation for several indicators of well-being including parental education and work, family income, and health insurance.

Despite substantial growth in the late 1990s, median income for families with children aged five and under was lower in 2000 than it was in 1979. Low-income families fared even worse over recent decades, and 20 percent of the state’s young children now live in a poor family. Poverty rates for these families vary substantially by race and ethnicity. Hispanic and Southeast Asian children in foreign-born families have the highest levels of poverty, followed by African American children, Hispanic children in U.S.-born families, and American Indians. Over recent decades, the share of young children whose mothers participate in the labor market has been rising and now exceeds 50 percent. Compared to the rest of the nation, however, California has a large population of children whose mothers do not work outside the home. California also has a strikingly large share of young children whose parents have not completed high school—24 percent compared to 13 percent for the rest of the nation. The share of young children who live with single mothers has also risen substantially since the 1970s; in 2000, that share was 18 percent.

The circumstances of young children vary considerably by region as well. About 30 percent of California’s young children live in Los Angeles County, which has a relatively high child poverty rate of 28 percent. The San Joaquin Valley, one of the state’s fastest growing regions for young children, has the highest poverty rate for such children (37 percent).

This study demonstrates several policy challenges, most notably high poverty rates, low parental education levels, and limited health insurance coverage. Substantial regional, racial, and ethnic differences also suggest the need for strategies that are sensitive to group and regional differences. Perhaps the issue that most clearly sets California apart from other states is the need for policies that help young children in immigrant families. These children make up almost half the young child population in California, and although their families tend to have limited economic resources, they appear to be under-enrolled in current programs.