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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* 8,373,169 100.00% 9,132,195 100.00%
In Poverty 1,462,735 17.47% 1,778,787 19.48%
Not in Poverty 6,910,434 82.53% 7,353,408 80.52%
11 Years and Under 1,302,851 15.56% 1,513,619 16.57%
In Poverty 365,739 4.37% 424,574 4.65%
Not in Poverty 937,112 11.19% 1,089,045 11.93%
12 to 17 Years 622,470 7.43% 703,659 7.71%
In Poverty 156,587 1.87% 185,292 2.03%
Not in Poverty 465,883 5.56% 518,367 5.68%
18 to 64 Years 5,385,873 64.32% 5,849,713 64.06%
In Poverty 777,520 9.29% 996,338 10.91%
Not in Poverty 4,608,353 55.04% 4,853,375 53.15%
65 Years and Above 1,061,975 12.68% 1,065,204 11.66%
In Poverty 162,889 1.95% 172,583 1.89%
Not in Poverty 899,086 10.74% 892,621 9.77%

* 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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