Families used the first round of monthly CTC payments to pay for necessities such as food, school expenses and child care. Data from the Census Bureau show that following the first round of monthly CTC payments, the number of households that reported having trouble paying for usual household expenses declined by 2.5 percentage points. Similarly, the number of households with children reporting that they sometimes or often did not have enough to eat dropped by 2.6 percentage points.

The data provide further evidence that the expanded CTC is helping families recover from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and providing a boon to communities, generating nearly $19.3 billion in spending in local economies each month.

In August 2021, the second round of monthly payments from the newly expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) hit families’ bank accounts. Over $15 billion was distributed to families across the United States, averaging $428 per qualifying family and reaching almost 61 million children. The number of children in families receiving the CTC grew by 1.6 million from July to August.

Eviction moratoria effectively keep families in their homes, and the CDC’s decision to bar evictions in counties with elevated COVID-19 transmission through October 3 will be a vital tool to protect public health. Federal, state and local policymakers must now step in with additional action to both keep families housed and distribute more of the nearly$47 billion in federal Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) before the ban expires.