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Community Corner

U.S. Census: More Grands Raising Grandchildren

More and more adults are now raising their grandchildren, providing for their basic needs and standing in as their guardians, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Sunday, Sept. 11, is National Grandparents Day.

The day was established under the Carter Administration and the first official observance was Sept. 9, 1979.

In honor of the nation’s grandparents, the U.S. Census Bureau has an array of statistics about the changing roles grandparents play:

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6.7 million: The number of grandparents whose grandchildren younger than 18 lived with them in 2009.

2.7 million: The number of grandparents responsible for most of the basic needs (i.e., food, shelter, clothing) of one or more grandchildren who lived with them in 2009. These grandparents represented about 40 percent of all grandparents whose grandchildren lived with them. Of these caregivers, 1.7 million were grandmothers, and 1 million were grandfathers.

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 8%: The percentage of grandparents living with grandchildren who were caring for their grandchildren and whose income was below the poverty level. This represents half a million grandparents.

$45,007: The median income for families with grandparent-caregiver householders and/or spouses. If a parent of the grandchildren was not present, the median dropped to $33,417. 

1 million: The number of grandparents responsible for caring for their grandchildren for at least the past five years.

1.9 million: The number of grandparent-caregivers who were married.

1.6 million: The number of grandparents who were in the labor force and also responsible for most of the basic needs of their grandchildren.

700,000 million: The Number of grandparents with a disability who were caring for their grandchildren.

70%: The percentage among grandparents who were responsible for their grandchildren, the percentage who lived in an owner-occupied home.  

7.5 million: The number of children living with a grandparent in 2010; these children comprised 10 percent of all children in the United States. Of these children, 4.9 million lived in the grandparent’s home.

3.2 million: The number of children who lived with both a grandmother and a grandfather in 2010.

30%: The percentage among children younger than 5 whose mothers were employed, the percentage cared for on a regular basis by a grandparent during their mother’s working hours in 2005.

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