Santa Cruz 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* 29,522 100.00% 38,215 100.00%
In Poverty 7,796 26.41% 9,356 24.48%
Not in Poverty 21,726 73.59% 28,859 75.52%
11 Years and Under 6,734 22.81% 8,490 22.22%
In Poverty 2,401 8.13% 2,630 6.88%
Not in Poverty 4,333 14.68% 5,860 15.33%
12 to 17 Years 3,383 11.46% 4,333 11.34%
In Poverty 1,089 3.69% 1,203 3.15%
Not in Poverty 2,294 7.77% 3,130 8.19%
18 to 64 Years 16,511 55.93% 21,373 55.93%
In Poverty 3,601 12.20% 4,590 12.01%
Not in Poverty 12,910 43.73% 16,783 43.92%
65 Years and Above 2,894 9.80% 4,019 10.52%
In Poverty 705 2.39% 933 2.44%
Not in Poverty 2,189 7.41% 3,086 8.08%

* 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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