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Gaston County

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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* 172,513 100.00% 186,991 100.00%
In Poverty 18,277 10.59% 20,309 10.86%
Not in Poverty 154,236 89.41% 166,682 89.14%
11 Years and Under 28,725 16.65% 30,688 16.41%
In Poverty 4,531 2.63% 4,833 2.58%
Not in Poverty 24,194 14.02% 25,855 13.83%
12 to 17 Years 15,063 8.73% 15,307 8.19%
In Poverty 1,799 1.04% 2,010 1.07%
Not in Poverty 13,264 7.69% 13,297 7.11%
18 to 64 Years 108,588 62.94% 118,275 63.25%
In Poverty 8,429 4.89% 10,954 5.86%
Not in Poverty 100,159 58.06% 107,321 57.39%
65 Years and Above 20,137 11.67% 22,721 12.15%
In Poverty 3,518 2.04% 2,512 1.34%
Not in Poverty 16,619 9.63% 20,209 10.81%

* 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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