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Luzerne 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* 318,090 100.00% 307,988 100.00%
In Poverty 35,742 11.24% 34,136 11.08%
Not in Poverty 282,348 88.76% 273,852 88.92%
11 Years and Under 45,716 14.37% 41,696 13.54%
In Poverty 8,177 2.57% 6,940 2.25%
Not in Poverty 37,539 11.80% 34,756 11.28%
12 to 17 Years 23,891 7.51% 24,599 7.99%
In Poverty 3,251 1.02% 3,266 1.06%
Not in Poverty 20,640 6.49% 21,333 6.93%
18 to 64 Years 187,137 58.83% 182,938 59.40%
In Poverty 16,950 5.33% 17,489 5.68%
Not in Poverty 170,187 53.50% 165,449 53.72%
65 Years and Above 61,346 19.29% 58,755 19.08%
In Poverty 7,364 2.32% 6,441 2.09%
Not in Poverty 53,982 16.97% 52,314 16.99%

* 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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