Essex 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* 8,497 100.00% 9,720 100.00%
In Poverty 1,146 13.49% 1,091 11.22%
Not in Poverty 7,351 86.51% 8,629 88.78%
11 Years and Under 1,334 15.70% 1,315 13.53%
In Poverty 249 2.93% 233 2.40%
Not in Poverty 1,085 12.77% 1,082 11.13%
12 to 17 Years 675 7.94% 873 8.98%
In Poverty 67 0.79% 142 1.46%
Not in Poverty 608 7.16% 731 7.52%
18 to 64 Years 5,069 59.66% 5,943 61.14%
In Poverty 577 6.79% 528 5.43%
Not in Poverty 4,492 52.87% 5,415 55.71%
65 Years and Above 1,419 16.70% 1,589 16.35%
In Poverty 253 2.98% 188 1.93%
Not in Poverty 1,166 13.72% 1,401 14.41%

* 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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