Are Parents of Adopted Kids More Educated Than Biological Parents?

By Jon C. Ogg Published Apr 23, 2:05PM EDT

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The U.S. Census Bureau releases some interesting studies throughout the course of the year. Considering that it has the Census report, it does after all have access to solid data about the population. Wednesday’s Census press release signals something that may be a very controversial topic: adopted children are much more likely to have parents with higher education than children under 18 who are living with their biological parents.

According to the American Community Survey statistics, some 17% of adopted children under age 18 lived with a householder with a graduate or professional degree. The report showed that only 12% of biological children and 6% of stepchildren lived with a householder with at least one of these degrees.

The Census Bureau used multiyear data from the American Community Survey, from 2009 to 2011, and used the 2010 Census and 2012 Current Population Survey for its results.

Now, when you consider that higher education degrees are also generally associated with higher income, what does this tell you? It implies higher income and lower poverty among adopted kids.

The report confirms these expectations with figures. It said:

In 2010, of the 64.8 million children of the householder under age 18, 93 percent were the biological children of the householder, 4 percent were stepchildren and 2 percent were adopted children… Adopted children lived in households that had higher incomes and were less likely to live in poverty (14 percent) than stepchildren (16 percent) or than biological children (21 percent).

Obviously, this is not meant to be a blanket hypothesis. The Census Bureau’s Fertility and Family Statistics Branch showed that there are many different circumstances around adoption, and also stressed that several data sources were used to explore the particular characteristics of each group.

The full report breaks out statistics regarding stepchildren and transracially adopted children. The infographic below visualizes the Census findings.

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About the Author Jon C. Ogg →

Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. www.247wallst.com.