Douglas 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* 93,061 100.00% 98,972 100.00%
In Poverty 13,828 14.86% 12,999 13.13%
Not in Poverty 79,233 85.14% 85,973 86.87%
11 Years and Under 16,337 17.56% 14,344 14.49%
In Poverty 3,521 3.78% 2,758 2.79%
Not in Poverty 12,816 13.77% 11,586 11.71%
12 to 17 Years 8,228 8.84% 9,145 9.24%
In Poverty 1,455 1.56% 1,295 1.31%
Not in Poverty 6,773 7.28% 7,850 7.93%
18 to 64 Years 54,542 58.61% 58,276 58.88%
In Poverty 7,308 7.85% 7,370 7.45%
Not in Poverty 47,234 50.76% 50,906 51.43%
65 Years and Above 13,954 14.99% 17,207 17.39%
In Poverty 1,544 1.66% 1,576 1.59%
Not in Poverty 12,410 13.34% 15,631 15.79%

* 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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