Providence-Fall River-Warwick, MA-RI

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* 881,537 100.00% 1,149,705 100.00%
In Poverty 86,471 9.81% 135,463 11.78%
Not in Poverty 795,066 90.19% 1,014,242 88.22%
11 Years and Under 140,389 15.93% 185,098 16.10%
In Poverty 21,671 2.46% 33,291 2.90%
Not in Poverty 118,718 13.47% 151,807 13.20%
12 to 17 Years 63,549 7.21% 92,968 8.09%
In Poverty 7,211 0.82% 12,743 1.11%
Not in Poverty 56,338 6.39% 80,225 6.98%
18 to 64 Years 547,644 62.12% 708,122 61.59%
In Poverty 42,385 4.81% 71,208 6.19%
Not in Poverty 505,259 57.32% 636,914 55.40%
65 Years and Above 129,955 14.74% 163,517 14.22%
In Poverty 15,204 1.72% 18,221 1.58%
Not in Poverty 114,751 13.02% 145,296 12.64%

* 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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