Children Losing Out: The Geographic Distribution of the Federal Child Tax Credit

Interactive maps produced by James Quinn, Mailman School of Public Health, Built Environment and Health (BEH) Research Group

The Child Tax Credit is the largest federal expenditure for children, but a third of children do not reap the full benefit of this credit. The children excluded from the full credit are those in families whose earnings are not high enough to qualify. In a previous brief, we found that the population who does not receive the full Child Tax Credit is disproportionately made up of children of color, those in families with young children, and those who reside in rural areas. This brief examines the variation in Child Tax Credit receipt by state and congressional district, finding that children in areas where incomes are lower and poverty rates are higher are those most likely to be ineligible for the full tax credit.

The five states with the highest levels of non-receipt include the southern states of Mississippi (47%), New Mexico (46%), Louisiana (43%), Arkansas (44%), and Alabama (43%). The ten congressional districts with the highest levels of non-receipt include NY-15 (68%), MI-13 (61%), TX-34 (61%), TX-29 (60%), CA-16 (59%), NY-13 (58%), MS-2 (58%), AZ-7 (58%), TX-28 (57%), and CA-40 (57%). These results suggest that proposals to extend the Child Tax Credit to families who are currently losing out could have a substantial impact on child poverty in the United States.