Definitions: This indicator is an estimate of the share of children under age 18 who were living in a
household that entered foreclosure in 2007, 2008 or 2009. Children living in either
rental units or owner-occupied homes without a mortgage are not included
in this analysis.
Estimates
were obtained as follows: First, estimates of the number of households
entering foreclosure were acquired from the Mortgage Bankers
Association's National Delinquency Survey (NDS) database. Because the
NDS data covers about 85 percent of the real estate market, we adjusted
the estimate of the total number of households entering foreclosure
between 2007 and 2009 to account for the data's under-coverage. We then
multiplied that estimate by the percentage of mortgaged households that
had children, which yielded an estimate of the total households with
children entering foreclosure. Finally, we multiplied that result by the
average number of children per mortgaged household to get an estimate
of the total number of children affected by foreclosure. When
foreclosure information was not available by location, the aggregate
total for all states was still reported. Therefore, the U.S. total does
not equal the sum of the states' totals.
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Data Source: Mortgage Bankers Association, National Delinquency Survey, 2007 to 2009; U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2007 to 2009
Note: Maps use the natural break classification method, which reflects patterns
in the data by dividing the map into naturally occurring groups. Using statistical tools, this method
determines cut-off points for each group by identifying large gaps in data values.
Note: The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are
not included in maps and rankings because they are not states and therefore comparisons on many
indicators of child well being are not meaningful.