Bernalillo 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* 472,908 100.00% 547,422 100.00%
In Poverty 68,845 14.56% 74,987 13.70%
Not in Poverty 404,063 85.44% 472,435 86.30%
11 Years and Under 86,642 18.32% 91,516 16.72%
In Poverty 18,092 3.83% 17,972 3.28%
Not in Poverty 68,550 14.50% 73,544 13.43%
12 to 17 Years 37,502 7.93% 46,773 8.54%
In Poverty 6,693 1.42% 7,406 1.35%
Not in Poverty 30,809 6.51% 39,367 7.19%
18 to 64 Years 300,285 63.50% 347,258 63.44%
In Poverty 38,883 8.22% 43,967 8.03%
Not in Poverty 261,402 55.28% 303,291 55.40%
65 Years and Above 48,479 10.25% 61,875 11.30%
In Poverty 5,177 1.09% 5,642 1.03%
Not in Poverty 43,302 9.16% 56,233 10.27%

* 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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