Monthly Child Tax Credit Receipt and Spending, Household Structure, and Race and Ethnicity

In 2021, there was a historic, although temporary, expansion to the Child Tax Credit (CTC), shifting it to a near-universal monthly child allowance. Building on previous literature that suggests a growing heterogeneity in family structure intersects with access to safety net programs, we examine how household structure and race/ethnicity independently shaped the patterns of receiving and spending the monthly CTC, and how they jointly shaped the receipt and spending patterns during the second half of 2021. Using the Census Household Pulse Survey and multivariate regression models, we find population-level evidence among CTC-eligible households that unmarried women and unmarried men were both less likely than their married counterparts to report receiving the monthly CTC, with significantly larger gaps observed for unmarried men than for unmarried women. The interaction effect analysis reveals a more nuanced finding that such disparities between married couples and unmarried women are more pronounced among White populations. Analyses on spending show that the monthly CTC played a particularly important role in helping unmarried women of color meet their basic needs and child-related expenses. The present study demonstrates the potential benefit of having a child allowance policy, while highlighting ongoing inequities in access to the CTC despite its near-universal expansion. Findings underscore the need for more targeted outreach efforts, accessible tax filing support services, and a more simplified tax filing process.