Wise 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* 39,059 100.00% 39,158 100.00%
In Poverty 8,439 21.61% 7,827 19.99%
Not in Poverty 30,620 78.39% 31,331 80.01%
11 Years and Under 6,471 16.57% 5,835 14.90%
In Poverty 1,809 4.63% 1,692 4.32%
Not in Poverty 4,662 11.94% 4,143 10.58%
12 to 17 Years 4,096 10.49% 3,284 8.39%
In Poverty 1,167 2.99% 873 2.23%
Not in Poverty 2,929 7.50% 2,411 6.16%
18 to 64 Years 23,508 60.19% 24,734 63.16%
In Poverty 4,606 11.79% 4,612 11.78%
Not in Poverty 18,902 48.39% 20,122 51.39%
65 Years and Above 4,984 12.76% 5,305 13.55%
In Poverty 857 2.19% 650 1.66%
Not in Poverty 4,127 10.57% 4,655 11.89%

* 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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