http://www.ncsl.org/statefed/welfare/caseloadwatch.htm
Number of families on welfare has fallen from 5 million in 1994 and leveled off at 2 million in 2004. I didn’t find statistics after that.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html
There were 105 million households in the US in the 2000 census. Please tell me again how I am wrong now that I have laid out some sources for you.
I recognize these statistics are for households, not total population. It is probably true that people in poverty have larger households.
The problem with assuming that your 13% in poverty are all on welfare is that it doesn’t take much to get a large family under the federal poverty line. There are many conservative Christians, Amish, Mormons and others that have 6 or more children and do not receive government aid.
A family with 4 children is considered under the federal poverty line if it makes less than 29,500 per year. There are many areas of the country in which one can live well without needing that much cash flow.
Do you really believe that only 2 million families in the US are living on Welfare? Also what is the definition of welfare? Is that only direct government checks and coupons? In my opinion welfare is much more than just government checks and coupons. It is the free housing, section 8, free healthcare, etc....
Another quick addition: By far the greatest factor in pushing people below the poverty line is single-parenting/divorce in homes with children below 18.
A higher number of these homes are single white mothers, and a higher percentage within a racial category are single black mothers.