Nana and Poppy, Abu and Abuelo, Gram and Gramps, Oma and Opa, Meme and Pappy, Bubbe and Papa, Yia Yia and Pop-Pops – Regardless of what we call our grandparents, their special day is September 7 this year.  

At NHFPI, we’ve been examining the numbers around New Hampshire’s grandfamilies, a descriptor for households in which children under 18 live with grandparents either with or without their parents. Here’s what we’ve learned from the most recently available 2019-2023 U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year data. 

Demographics 

• Approximately 22,200 grandparents lived with their grandchildren in New Hampshire. 

• About 17,500 Granite State children, roughly 7 percent of all children under 18 in the state, lived in grandfamilies. 

• Around 2 percent of New Hampshire children lived with grandparents who were responsible for most of their basic needs. 

• Over 60 percent of grandparents living with their grandchildren were women. 

Household Characteristics  

• Grandfamily median income in households where grandparents were responsible for caring for most of their grandchildren’s basic needs, and the children’s parents were not present, was approximately $54,000, compared to the statewide median family household income of around $119,000. 

• About 60 percent of grandparents living with and responsible for caring for their grandchildren were in the labor force, while over 20 percent of this population had a disability. 

• Nearly 38 percent of children living in a grandfamily in which their grandparent provided most of their basic needs lived in a household that received public assistance, while about 14 percent lived below the poverty level in the previous year.  

• Nationally, over 6 percent of children lived with an older adult in households in which at least one person received Social Security payments, about double the percentage of similar households in the year 2000. 

From our families to yours, Happy Grandparents Day!