The latest numbers on poverty among U.S. children are so striking that they make you do a double take. In 2009, 31 million kids were living in families with incomes below twice the federal poverty threshold. That’s 42 percent of the kids in the United States who are just a few of mom’s or dad’s paychecks away from economic catastrophe, says Patrick McCarthy, CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which released the statistics this week as part of its latest Kids Count study.

Nearly 8 million children in 2010 were living with at least one parent who was unemployed.

You can explore more of the findings focused on children and families here. And there’s plenty of other data to pore over — about disturbing trends at the national level and what’s happening in your state.