9/20/13
One in 10 U.S. children under age 18 (10%) live with their grandparents, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census data. Of these, nearly four in 10 (39%) are cared for primarily by their grandparent(s) (calculations by Research Alert). More than seven in 10 children who live with grandparents (71%) are living in their grandparents’ households (rather than cohabiting with grandparents in their parents’ households).
Young children are more likely than tweens and teens to live with grandparents, black children are more likely than other racial/ethnic groups to live with grandparents.
One in five children who live with grandparents (20%) have no parents in the household. Among those whose primary caregiver is a grandparent, 40% have no parent at home. Children of color make up a larger proportion of those who live with grandparents than of the general population. More than half of kids (55%) living with grandparents are black, Hispanic, or Asian, compared with 47% of children in the U.S. overall.
The median annual income of households in which children live with grandparents is slightly lower than that of those in households where children live without grandparents ($43,000 vs. $48,000). The median income of households in which grandparents are primary caretakers of children is significantly lower-$36,000.
More than half of grandparents (55%) who serve as their grandchildren’s primary caregivers have been doing so for three years or longer. Women make up the majority of both grandparents who live with their grandchildren (64%) and those who are primary caregivers for grandchildren (63%).
SOURCE: “At Grandmother’s House We Stay,” September 2013, Pew Research Center, Social & Demographic Trends Project, Gretchen Livingston, Senior Researcher, 1615 L St., NW, #700, Washington, DC 20036; 202-419-4300; info@pewsocialtrends.org; www.pewsocialtrends.org.
© 2013 Business Valuation Resources, LLC (BVR). May not be reproduced without written consent of publisher.