About 30% of parents who are owed child support payments get nothing, according to data from the Census Bureau.
One in five children in the US live in households that receive child support payments. In 2017[1], the 5.4 million parents who were owed child support payments received 62% of the amount they were supposed to get, on average.
The median amount received was $1,800, though 1.6 million, or 30% received no child support at all. About 46% of parents with child support agreements get all of what is owed to them.
