Hampden 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* 442,118 100.00% 441,027 100.00%
In Poverty 57,337 12.97% 65,024 14.74%
Not in Poverty 384,781 87.03% 376,003 85.26%
11 Years and Under 78,028 17.65% 76,022 17.24%
In Poverty 18,804 4.25% 19,034 4.32%
Not in Poverty 59,224 13.40% 56,988 12.92%
12 to 17 Years 34,073 7.71% 39,715 9.01%
In Poverty 6,433 1.46% 7,763 1.76%
Not in Poverty 27,640 6.25% 31,952 7.24%
18 to 64 Years 267,500 60.50% 263,537 59.76%
In Poverty 26,229 5.93% 32,275 7.32%
Not in Poverty 241,271 54.57% 231,262 52.44%
65 Years and Above 62,517 14.14% 61,753 14.00%
In Poverty 5,871 1.33% 5,952 1.35%
Not in Poverty 56,646 12.81% 55,801 12.65%

* 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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