Essex 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* 656,972 100.00% 706,651 100.00%
In Poverty 60,771 9.25% 63,137 8.93%
Not in Poverty 596,201 90.75% 643,514 91.07%
11 Years and Under 108,883 16.57% 120,349 17.03%
In Poverty 17,762 2.70% 15,366 2.17%
Not in Poverty 91,121 13.87% 104,983 14.86%
12 to 17 Years 47,499 7.23% 58,738 8.31%
In Poverty 5,916 0.90% 6,457 0.91%
Not in Poverty 41,583 6.33% 52,281 7.40%
18 to 64 Years 411,773 62.68% 433,688 61.37%
In Poverty 28,592 4.35% 32,971 4.67%
Not in Poverty 383,181 58.33% 400,717 56.71%
65 Years and Above 88,817 13.52% 93,876 13.28%
In Poverty 8,501 1.29% 8,343 1.18%
Not in Poverty 80,316 12.23% 85,533 12.10%

* 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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