This brief draws on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, and presents a sharpened two-generation lens on the poverty and low income status of children and families in 2010, and on trends in poverty and low-income status among children and families during the first decade of the 21st century. In addition, it presents data on differences in poverty and low-income status across race and ethnic origin, age, family structure, gender, education, full-time employment status, and geography. The brief is organized into four sections and ends with a summary of findings. Following this overview and a brief summary of the poverty data referenced in this brief, the first section focuses on the two-generation frame of family households with children, highlighting the shifting family structure of families in the United States; the second section focuses on children; the third section focuses on adults; and the fourth section highlights geographic areas with a high concentration of poverty. The brief concludes with a summary of important distinctions in the patterns of poverty and low-income status across a number of different categories.