Jefferson Parish

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* 444,332 100.00% 451,243 100.00%
In Poverty 62,827 14.14% 61,608 13.65%
Not in Poverty 381,505 85.86% 389,635 86.35%
11 Years and Under 80,147 18.04% 73,793 16.35%
In Poverty 16,525 3.72% 15,904 3.52%
Not in Poverty 63,622 14.32% 57,889 12.83%
12 to 17 Years 38,354 8.63% 39,389 8.73%
In Poverty 7,675 1.73% 7,120 1.58%
Not in Poverty 30,679 6.90% 32,269 7.15%
18 to 64 Years 281,988 63.46% 285,347 63.24%
In Poverty 32,864 7.40% 33,405 7.40%
Not in Poverty 249,124 56.07% 251,942 55.83%
65 Years and Above 43,843 9.87% 52,714 11.68%
In Poverty 5,763 1.30% 5,179 1.15%
Not in Poverty 38,080 8.57% 47,535 10.53%

* 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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