Percentage distribution of 5- to 17-year-olds, by race/ethnicity and selected family characteristics: Selected years, 1979

Elementary/Secondary Education

Table 6-1. Percentage distribution of 5- to 17-year-olds, by race/ethnicity and selected family characteristics: Selected years, 1979–2006

Family characteristic	1979	1989	1992	1995	1999	2002	2004	2006

Total U.S. population
Parents’ education
Less than high school	—	14.9	14.0	12.8	12.6	10.8	10.7	11.0
High school diploma	—	34.2	33.0	28.9	27.5	26.2	25.3	24.7
Some college	—	25.0	27.3	30.1	29.9	29.9	30.3	29.2
Bachelor’s degree or higher	19.0	25.8	25.7	28.2	30.0	33.1	33.7	35.2
Family type¹
Two-parent household	74.8	71.8	70.1	68.5	67.2	68.1	66.9	66.8
Mother-only household	17.8	21.8	23.1	23.0	23.5	22.9	23.3	23.2
Father-only household	2.2	3.0	3.2	3.5	4.3	4.4	4.6	4.7
Poverty status²
Poor	14.7	18.5	20.6	20.8	18.8	15.6	16.9	16.9
Near-poor	19.3	20.9	22.0	21.8	20.7	20.5	20.5	20.8
Nonpoor	66.0	60.7	57.4	57.4	60.5	63.9	62.6	62.3
Citizenship
U.S.-born	—	—	—	95.6	96.0	95.3	95.3	95.0
Naturalized U.S. citizen	—	—	—	0.3	0.5	0.7	0.7	0.8
Non-U.S. citizen	—	—	—	4.1	3.4	4.0	3.9	4.2
Immigration status
Born outside the 50 states and the District of Columbia	—	—	—	5.5	5.1	5.6	5.5	5.9
First generation³	—	—	—	12.7	14.6	15.5	16.3	18.0
Second generation or more⁴	—	—	—	81.7	80.3	78.9	78.2	76.0

Total White population
Parents’ education
Less than high school	—	7.6	6.9	5.5	5.2	4.5	3.8	4.0
High school diploma	—	34.8	32.6	28.5	26.2	24.2	23.1	22.0
Some college	—	26.9	29.9	31.4	31.8	31.3	31.8	30.3
Bachelor’s degree or higher	22.3	30.7	30.6	34.5	36.8	39.9	41.3	43.7
Family type¹
Two-parent household	80.7	79.9	78.3	77.2	75.3	75.8	75.1	74.8
Mother-only household	13.2	15.1	16.4	16.3	17.0	16.6	16.5	16.4
Father-only household	2.2	3.0	3.2	3.4	4.5	4.5	4.7	5.0
Poverty status²
Poor	8.9	10.3	12.4	12.1	10.8	9.5	9.7	9.9
Near-poor	16.6	19.1	19.6	19.3	16.4	16.1	16.1	15.4
Nonpoor	74.5	70.5	68.0	68.6	72.7	74.4	74.2	74.7
Citizenship
U.S.-born	—	—	—	98.8	99.0	98.6	98.4	98.4
Naturalized U.S. citizen	—	—	—	#	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.4
Non-U.S. citizen	—	—	—	1.2	0.8	1.1	1.3	1.2
Immigration status
Born outside the 50 states and the District of Columbia	—	—	—	2.0	1.7	2.1	2.2	2.1
First generation³	—	—	—	5.6	5.8	6.3	6.0	6.0
Second generation or more⁴	—	—	—	92.4	92.5	91.6	91.9	91.9

Total Black population
Parents’ education
Less than high school	—	23.6	22.5	19.3	16.7	14.0	13.6	13.3
High school diploma	—	39.4	40.6	35.3	36.1	35.3	34.9	33.0
Some college	—	24.6	24.3	32.5	31.7	32.8	33.0	32.5
Bachelor’s degree or higher	4.9	12.3	12.7	12.9	15.5	18.0	18.5	21.2
Family type¹
Two-parent household	43.8	38.8	37.5	34.2	35.5	37.7	36.1	35.1
Mother-only household	43.7	48.3	50.5	49.7	49.7	47.8	48.3	50.2
Father-only household	2.4	3.3	2.9	3.8	3.8	5.3	5.0	4.2
Poverty status²
Poor	40.6	41.9	43.8	41.9	36.0	29.0	33.4	33.3
Near-poor	28.4	22.7	24.1	25.5	27.9	26.8	27.3	26.8
Nonpoor	31.1	35.4	32.1	32.5	36.0	44.2	39.4	39.9
Citizenship
U.S.-born	—	—	—	98.3	98.1	97.1	97.5	97.1
Naturalized U.S. citizen	—	—	—	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.4
Non-U.S. citizen	—	—	—	1.5	1.6	2.7	2.1	2.5
Immigration status
Born outside the 50 states and the District of Columbia	—	—	—	2.7	2.5	3.5	3.1	3.3
First generation³	—	—	—	5.1	6.4	7.8	8.9	9.1
Second generation or more⁴	—	—	—	92.1	91.1	88.8	88.1	87.6

Total Hispanic population
Parents’ education
Less than high school	—	47.8	48.2	43.5	40.8	38.0	36.7	32.4
High school diploma	—	27.3	27.2	25.4	26.3	27.7	27.1	28.8
Some college	—	16.0	15.8	22.3	21.1	21.7	23.3	23.8
Bachelor’s degree or higher	7.2	8.8	8.8	8.9	11.9	12.6	13.0	14.9
Family type¹
Two-parent household	71.6	64.9	63.5	63.0	63.4	64.4	63.6	65.3
Mother-only household	17.2	28.9	28.2	26.9	26.2	25.6	26.1	24.5
Father-only household	2.1	2.8	3.3	4.3	3.8	3.9	4.2	4.0
Poverty status²
Poor	26.9	34.5	38.3	39.8	33.6	28.8	29.1	26.5
Near-poor	31.9	29.4	33.0	30.7	31.8	32.5	31.5	32.8
Nonpoor	41.2	36.2	28.7	29.5	34.6	38.7	39.3	40.7
Citizenship
U.S.-born	—	—	—	81.4	86.3	83.5	85.4	85.9
Naturalized U.S. citizen	—	—	—	1.1	1.0	1.6	0.9	1.2
Non-U.S. citizen	—	—	—	17.5	12.6	14.9	13.8	12.9
Immigration status
Born outside the 50 states and the District of Columbia	—	—	—	21.2	16.6	18.5	16.4	16.4
First generation³	—	—	—	50.2	49.2	53.0	52.3	52.5
Second generation or more⁴	—	—	—	28.6	34.2	28.5	31.3	31.1

— Not available.
# Rounds to zero.
¹ Detail does not sum to total because a small percentage of respondents were not in the survey universe or had no parents present in the home.
² Poor is defined to include families below the poverty threshold, near-poor is defined to include families at 100–199 percent of the poverty threshold, and nonpoor is defined to include families at 200 percent or more than the poverty threshold. See supplemental note 1 for more information.
³ First generation describes an individual born in the 50 states or the District of Columbia with at least one parent born outside the 50 states or the District of Columbia.
⁴ Second generation or more describes an individual born in the 50 states or the District of Columbia whose parents were both born inside the 50 states or the District of Columbia.
NOTE: Prior to 1992, high school completers referred to those who completed 12 years of schooling, and some college meant completing 1 or more years of college; beginning in 1992, high school completers referred to those who received a high school diploma or equivalency certificate, and some college meant completing any college at all. Included in the totals but not shown separately are estimates for those from other racial/ethnic categories. In 1994, the survey instrument for the Current Population Survey (CPS) was changed and weights were adjusted. See supplemental note 2 for further discussion. Some estimates are revised from previous publications. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), March Supplement, selected years, 1979–2006.

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