Brazos 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* 109,543 100.00% 139,110 100.00%
In Poverty 29,199 26.66% 37,417 26.90%
Not in Poverty 80,344 73.34% 101,693 73.10%
11 Years and Under 18,408 16.80% 21,778 15.66%
In Poverty 4,479 4.09% 5,187 3.73%
Not in Poverty 13,929 12.72% 16,591 11.93%
12 to 17 Years 7,140 6.52% 10,169 7.31%
In Poverty 1,255 1.15% 1,862 1.34%
Not in Poverty 5,885 5.37% 8,307 5.97%
18 to 64 Years 76,359 69.71% 97,523 70.10%
In Poverty 22,147 20.22% 29,378 21.12%
Not in Poverty 54,212 49.49% 68,145 48.99%
65 Years and Above 7,636 6.97% 9,640 6.93%
In Poverty 1,318 1.20% 990 0.71%
Not in Poverty 6,318 5.77% 8,650 6.22%

* 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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