Vanderburgh 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* 160,427 100.00% 165,007 100.00%
In Poverty 20,016 12.48% 18,414 11.16%
Not in Poverty 140,411 87.52% 146,593 88.84%
11 Years and Under 27,268 17.00% 25,623 15.53%
In Poverty 5,092 3.17% 4,392 2.66%
Not in Poverty 22,176 13.82% 21,231 12.87%
12 to 17 Years 11,694 7.29% 13,407 8.13%
In Poverty 1,569 0.98% 1,355 0.82%
Not in Poverty 10,125 6.31% 12,052 7.30%
18 to 64 Years 97,543 60.80% 101,666 61.61%
In Poverty 10,571 6.59% 10,894 6.60%
Not in Poverty 86,972 54.21% 90,772 55.01%
65 Years and Above 23,922 14.91% 24,311 14.73%
In Poverty 2,784 1.74% 1,773 1.07%
Not in Poverty 21,138 13.18% 22,538 13.66%

* 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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