Erath 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* 26,486 100.00% 31,284 100.00%
In Poverty 5,547 20.94% 5,014 16.03%
Not in Poverty 20,939 79.06% 26,270 83.97%
11 Years and Under 4,427 16.71% 5,255 16.80%
In Poverty 987 3.73% 895 2.86%
Not in Poverty 3,440 12.99% 4,360 13.94%
12 to 17 Years 2,094 7.91% 2,763 8.83%
In Poverty 404 1.53% 437 1.40%
Not in Poverty 1,690 6.38% 2,326 7.44%
18 to 64 Years 15,981 60.34% 19,240 61.50%
In Poverty 3,210 12.12% 3,367 10.76%
Not in Poverty 12,771 48.22% 15,873 50.74%
65 Years and Above 3,984 15.04% 4,026 12.87%
In Poverty 946 3.57% 315 1.01%
Not in Poverty 3,038 11.47% 3,711 11.86%

* 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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