Torrance 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* 10,221 100.00% 16,318 100.00%
In Poverty 2,153 21.06% 3,106 19.03%
Not in Poverty 8,068 78.94% 13,212 80.97%
11 Years and Under 2,116 20.70% 3,187 19.53%
In Poverty 596 5.83% 899 5.51%
Not in Poverty 1,520 14.87% 2,288 14.02%
12 to 17 Years 1,129 11.05% 1,875 11.49%
In Poverty 258 2.52% 353 2.16%
Not in Poverty 871 8.52% 1,522 9.33%
18 to 64 Years 5,815 56.89% 9,554 58.55%
In Poverty 1,055 10.32% 1,650 10.11%
Not in Poverty 4,760 46.57% 7,904 48.44%
65 Years and Above 1,161 11.36% 1,702 10.43%
In Poverty 244 2.39% 204 1.25%
Not in Poverty 917 8.97% 1,498 9.18%

* 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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