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Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, MI

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POVERTY BY AGE

While they say little about economic ups and downs in the decade between Censuses, income and poverty data provide us with economic "snapshots" of an area at the time of enumeration that can in turn be compared with economic data gathered from earlier Censuses. Poverty status, as measured in this chart, is determined by Poverty Thresholds, which take into account a number of factors, including income and family size and structure. For example, the 2000 Poverty Threshold for a family of four in the continental United States with two related children was 17,463. However, Poverty Thresholds are misleading because they do not provide an accurate picture of what a “poor” family’s life is like. According to the National Center for Children in poverty, most families of four would have to make twice their assigned Poverty Threshold in order to provide their children with basic necessities, such as housing, food, and health care.

Poverty by Age, 1990 and 2000
1990 2000
Number Percent Number Percent
Total Population* 413,529 100.00% 437,409 100.00%
In Poverty 57,945 14.01% 50,911 11.64%
Not in Poverty 355,584 85.99% 386,498 88.36%
11 Years and Under 75,147 18.17% 73,258 16.75%
In Poverty 15,261 3.69% 10,936 2.50%
Not in Poverty 59,886 14.48% 62,322 14.25%
12 to 17 Years 34,130 8.25% 38,215 8.74%
In Poverty 5,203 1.26% 4,264 0.97%
Not in Poverty 28,927 7.00% 33,951 7.76%
18 to 64 Years 256,694 62.07% 272,995 62.41%
In Poverty 32,617 7.89% 31,481 7.20%
Not in Poverty 224,077 54.19% 241,514 55.21%
65 Years and Above 47,558 11.50% 52,941 12.10%
In Poverty 4,864 1.18% 4,230 0.97%
Not in Poverty 42,694 10.32% 48,711 11.14%

* The total population is the population for which poverty status is determined. Therefore, the total in this table should not be expected to match the total population in the population growth topic.

Source: Census 2000 analyzed by the Social Science Data Analysis Network (SSDAN).

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