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More than 6 million American children have been signed up for Trump Accounts, according to a new mid-June tally from the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
In the lead-up to the official launch on July 4, a growing number of parents and guardians have opened an account for a beneficiary by filling out IRS Form 4547 with their 2025 tax return or on TrumpAccounts.gov, but many more are still eligible.
According to the Census Bureau, in 2024, a quarter of U.S. households had at least one child under 18 years old. Altogether, there were roughly 73.1 million children under age 18 nationwide that year, which means millions more children could still take advantage of the new tax-deferred investing accounts.
About 1.4 million children who have been signed up for Trump Accounts qualify to receive the $1,000 seed money from Treasury, according to the latest published data.
That is also far shy of the number of babies who could receive the pilot contribution, based roughly on the number of babies born in a year, according to CDC data.
“That 1.4 million reflects only about 39% of eligible children, meaning more than half of eligible children are still not enrolled to receive their $1,000,” said Madeline Brown, senior policy associate at the Urban Institute, a Washington-based think tank.
Who is eligible for a Trump Account — and free money
Trump Accounts are open to any U.S. child under 18 with a Social Security number and include a one-time $1,000 pilot program contribution from the Treasury for babies born from 2025 through 2028.
Other funds may also be available, depending on certain criteria. For example, tech CEO Michael Dell and his wife, Susan, committed $6.25 billion to provide an additional $250 for children born between 2016 and 2024 who live in ZIP codes where the median income is $150,000 or less.
“This is about every child, every family having a real shot at building something,” Dell told CNBC in an emailed statement.
“What the research shows us, pretty clearly, is that when a kid has even a small account in their name, they start to see themselves differently, and that shows up in graduation rates, in homeownership, in the businesses they start. That’s not just a financial outcome — it’s a mindset shift,” Dell said.
The accounts can also receive contributions from family, friends or employers, and the money grows tax-deferred.
Some philanthropists in certain states have pledged to seed the accounts for qualifying families. Previously, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the aim was to have philanthropists, charities or local governments in every state contribute funds as part of a “50-state challenge.”
Financial advisors generally say it is worth signing up to get any free money that could be available, but even without that incentive, early savings can help beneficiaries build retirement wealth.
“Most people don’t start saving until their 20s or 30s; they miss out on 20 years of compounding,” said Adam Bergman, founder of IRA Financial and a tax attorney based in Miami.
But since Trump Accounts will likely contain a mix of pretax and after-tax dollars, those pretax funds will be subject to ordinary income taxes upon withdrawal, and withdrawals before age 59½ could also come with a 10% penalty.
For some families, those rules may further discourage participation, “particularly among households with limited time, low financial literacy, or insufficient outside savings for emergencies,” according to a June 9 policy analysis by Adam Michel, director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute, a Washington-based think tank. “The result is a system used primarily by those best equipped to navigate it,” he wrote.
Because signing up for a Trump Account requires families to “opt in,” the overall participation rate may never reach its full potential, according to Brown. Automatic enrollment is the only way to ensure widespread Trump Account participation for all eligible children, she said.
“Lower-income people have more to gain from this program but are less likely to need to file taxes and therefore less likely to access it,” Brown said.
According to the Treasury’s June figures, 86% of Trump Accounts opened are linked to families earning less than $200,000.
That indicates higher-income families are overrepresented among the current signups, Brown said. Roughly 95% of all households with children under 18 make less than $200,000, according to Census data from 2024.
