Wirt 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* 5,187 100.00% 5,809 100.00%
In Poverty 1,143 22.04% 1,138 19.59%
Not in Poverty 4,044 77.96% 4,671 80.41%
11 Years and Under 937 18.06% 824 14.18%
In Poverty 286 5.51% 231 3.98%
Not in Poverty 651 12.55% 593 10.21%
12 to 17 Years 427 8.23% 617 10.62%
In Poverty 53 1.02% 143 2.46%
Not in Poverty 374 7.21% 474 8.16%
18 to 64 Years 3,078 59.34% 3,610 62.14%
In Poverty 601 11.59% 659 11.34%
Not in Poverty 2,477 47.75% 2,951 50.80%
65 Years and Above 745 14.36% 758 13.05%
In Poverty 203 3.91% 105 1.81%
Not in Poverty 542 10.45% 653 11.24%

* 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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