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Shelby 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* 801,199 100.00% 878,357 100.00%
In Poverty 146,853 18.33% 140,398 15.98%
Not in Poverty 654,346 81.67% 737,959 84.02%
11 Years and Under 153,573 19.17% 167,913 19.12%
In Poverty 42,927 5.36% 42,687 4.86%
Not in Poverty 110,646 13.81% 125,226 14.26%
12 to 17 Years 69,417 8.66% 81,340 9.26%
In Poverty 17,068 2.13% 15,210 1.73%
Not in Poverty 52,349 6.53% 66,130 7.53%
18 to 64 Years 496,195 61.93% 543,644 61.89%
In Poverty 70,045 8.74% 71,124 8.10%
Not in Poverty 426,150 53.19% 472,520 53.80%
65 Years and Above 82,014 10.24% 85,460 9.73%
In Poverty 16,813 2.10% 11,377 1.30%
Not in Poverty 65,201 8.14% 74,083 8.43%

* 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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