With the rising cost of living, many families with young children in the US are struggling to afford basic necessities, like diapers and period products. This often forces caregivers to make trade-offs that can negatively affect both their and their children’s health and well-being.
According to the National Diaper Bank Network (NDBN) Diaper Check 2024, about half (46 percent) of families with children ages 3 and younger struggle to afford diapers (PDF). That rate is even higher among families with low incomes: about 60 percent said they couldn’t purchase enough diapers to keep their children healthy and dry.
Less frequent diaper changes put children at risk of developing urinary tract infections and rashes. Parents and caregivers who struggle to afford diapers are twice as likely to report feeling depressed nearly every day, compared with those who can afford diapers. About one in four parents struggling to afford diapers say they skipped meals to save money for diapers. The average monthly cost of diapers for one child is about $100, yet the median family could only afford to pay $65, according to Urban’s analysis of the NDBN Diaper Check 2024 data.
For postpartum caregivers, the financial challenges of being a new parent are compounded. Our analysis of the NDBN Diaper Check 2024 found 35 percent of families that are diaper insecure also struggle to afford period products. These families might put the money they previously spent on period products toward diapers.
Unmet diaper and period product needs are costly for the broader economy. In 2024, about one in four parents and caregivers who did not have enough diapers for their children reported missing work or school because they could not leave their children at child care. Similarly, when women don’t have period products when they need them, they report feeling embarrassed, stressed, unhealthy, and sad; missing work and school; and avoiding seeing other people.
In response to the growing need, many communities have established what are known as basic needs banks that provide free diapers, period products, and other essentials. Based on the National Diaper Bank Network’s membership, basic needs banks offering diapers serve about 50 percent of US counties. Fewer counties (38 percent) are served by basic needs banks that provide period products.
These basic needs banks fill a critical gap in support for families with low incomes. Federal programs that help families purchase basic necessities, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), do not cover diapers or period products. Some states have created policies and direct assistance programs to address diaper insecurity.
In a new Urban analysis, we estimate how many diapers it would take to address the gap faced by households with children 3 and younger that are below 300 percent of the federal poverty level. We find it would take an average of almost 4.8 billion diapers each year to fill the gap.
Understanding this gap can help federal, state, and local policymakers, as well as advocates and community leaders, develop strategies to improve access to basic hygiene products and ultimately ensure families have what they need to be healthy and thrive.
The interactive map below shows how many diapers it would take to fill the gap faced by families with low-to-moderate incomes in a given county.
RESOURCES
Nearly 8 Million US Children Live in Families That Struggle to Afford Enough Diapers
Parents Across the Country Tell the Story of Diaper Need (PDF)
Diaper Need Legislation Tracker
How states are addressing the issue of diaper insecurity
ABOUT THE COLLABORATION
This product is the result of an ongoing research collaboration between the Urban Institute and National Diaper Bank Network. We thank Megan Smith, Kelley Massengale, Lynn Comer, Troy Moore, Lacey Gero, Joanne Goldblum, Tamara Killian, and Amy Faugas from the National Diaper Bank Network for their collaboration during the development of this tool. We also thank the project’s research advisory council for input on the dashboard design and metrics. Read more about the collaboration and research advisory council.
ABOUT THE DATA
This tool is based on the National Diaper Bank Network’s Annual Member Survey data from 2024. It reflects the services provided and areas covered by basic needs banks that are members of its network. As such, it may not include all basic needs banks providing free diapers and period products.
To calculate how many diapers it would take to fill the gap faced by families in each county, we drew on demographic and financial data from the 2023 American Community Survey (ACS). Based on previous research (PDF), we first estimated that families fall short by an average of 50 diapers a month for the average child 3 and younger. We then multiplied this monthly gap by 12 months to get the annual diaper gap. Next, we multiplied the annual diaper gap by the total number of children 3 and younger living in households with incomes less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level. The final estimate reflects the number of diapers needed, at the county, state, or national level, to fill the gap families in households with low-to-moderate incomes face.
However, not all counties are represented in the 2023 ACS. To estimate the diaper gap in these counties, we approximated the number of children ages 3 and younger living in households below 300 percent of the federal poverty level using state- and county-level Census Bureau data. To calculate the diaper gap, we used the same method outlined above. In the data tool, any values calculated using Census data are denoted by an asterisk. For counties with fewer than 50 estimated children, we mask the estimate for data validity and confidentiality reasons. See the technical appendix (PDF) for more information.
The financial security and health and well-being indicators were calculated based on the latest years of data available from the annual data releases from County Health Rankings and Roadmaps. We use data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, the American Community Survey, and Urban’s machine learning models to generate the share of households with at least $2,000 in emergency savings. In the tool, we define severe housing cost burden as the percentage of households that spend 50 percent or more of their household income on housing.
We relied on 2024 data from March of Dimes to identify maternal care deserts. March of Dimes defines maternal care deserts as “counties across the US in which access to maternity care services is limited or absent, either through lack of services or barriers to a woman's ability to access that care within counties.” Based on these data, in the tool we describe individual counties as either “maternal care deserts” or as having “low access,” “moderate access,” or “full access” to maternal care. At the state and national levels, we indicate the share of counties that are maternal care deserts. We use data from the National Home Visiting Resource Center's 2024 Home Visiting Yearbook to understand which counties had evidence-based early childhood home-visiting services. For information on how we calculated the other health and well-being indicators, please see the technical appendix (PDF).
The share of children ages 3 through 4 enrolled in preschool, prekindergarten, or nursery school at the county level is drawn from Urban’s Upward Mobility Dashboard. We calculated state and national levels using ACS data. The share of children proficient in third-grade reading and math are drawn from Urban’s Education-to-Workforce Framework Data Tool.
To learn more about the data sources and methods used to create this tool, see our technical appendix (PDF).
PROJECT CREDITS
This data tool was supported by the National Diaper Bank Network. We are grateful to them and to all our funders, who make it possible for Urban to advance its mission. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders. Funders do not determine research findings or the insights and recommendations of our experts. More information on our funding principles is available here. Read our terms of service here.
RESEARCH Mingli Zhong, Alavi Rashid, Heather Sandstrom, and Aaron R. Williams from the Urban Institute
Megan Smith and Kelley Massengale from the National Diaper Bank Network
DATA VISUALIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT Mitchell Thorson
DESIGN Brittney Spinner
EDITING Zach VeShancey
WRITING Dana Ferrante
