Etowah 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* 98,492 100.00% 101,529 100.00%
In Poverty 16,242 16.49% 15,938 15.70%
Not in Poverty 82,250 83.51% 85,591 84.30%
11 Years and Under 15,525 15.76% 15,776 15.54%
In Poverty 3,646 3.70% 3,774 3.72%
Not in Poverty 11,879 12.06% 12,002 11.82%
12 to 17 Years 8,723 8.86% 8,375 8.25%
In Poverty 1,401 1.42% 1,609 1.58%
Not in Poverty 7,322 7.43% 6,766 6.66%
18 to 64 Years 59,089 59.99% 61,573 60.65%
In Poverty 8,030 8.15% 8,388 8.26%
Not in Poverty 51,059 51.84% 53,185 52.38%
65 Years and Above 15,155 15.39% 15,805 15.57%
In Poverty 3,165 3.21% 2,167 2.13%
Not in Poverty 11,990 12.17% 13,638 13.43%

* 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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