Demographics of families with children in Iowa

According to the 2000 US Census, there are 737,212 children under the age of 18 living in Iowa (25% of Iowa's population). This is similar to national statistics indicating that 25.7% of children in the United States are under age 18. The Census data also indicates that there are 361,153 families with children under age 18 in Iowa.

Results from the 2000 Iowa Child and Family Household Health Survey indicate that children in Iowa live in family households with an average of 4.5 people (2.1 adults and 2.4 children). Most families had either two (35%) or three (34%) children in the household. One quarter of the children were living in a household with three or more adults. The racial distribution of the children was: 90 percent white, three percent African-American, just over one percent Native American and Asian, and five percent 'other.' Three percent of Iowa's children were considered to be of more than one race. Three percent were of Spanish or Hispanic origin. Four out of ten children were living in families with household incomes over $50,000 per year while about one-third (32%) were in families with household incomes below $25,000 per year.