Dallas County

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* 47,176 100.00% 45,864 100.00%
In Poverty 17,099 36.25% 14,243 31.05%
Not in Poverty 30,077 63.75% 31,621 68.95%
11 Years and Under 9,869 20.92% 8,199 17.88%
In Poverty 5,074 10.76% 3,782 8.25%
Not in Poverty 4,795 10.16% 4,417 9.63%
12 to 17 Years 4,995 10.59% 4,884 10.65%
In Poverty 2,251 4.77% 1,579 3.44%
Not in Poverty 2,744 5.82% 3,305 7.21%
18 to 64 Years 25,889 54.88% 26,485 57.75%
In Poverty 7,582 16.07% 7,144 15.58%
Not in Poverty 18,307 38.81% 19,341 42.17%
65 Years and Above 6,423 13.61% 6,296 13.73%
In Poverty 2,192 4.65% 1,738 3.79%
Not in Poverty 4,231 8.97% 4,558 9.94%

* 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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