Wisconsin

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* 4,754,103 100.00% 5,211,603 100.00%
In Poverty 508,545 10.70% 451,538 8.66%
Not in Poverty 4,245,558 89.30% 4,760,065 91.34%
11 Years and Under 873,564 18.37% 863,530 16.57%
In Poverty 141,581 2.98% 105,323 2.02%
Not in Poverty 731,983 15.40% 758,207 14.55%
12 to 17 Years 397,601 8.36% 479,420 9.20%
In Poverty 47,282 0.99% 44,843 0.86%
Not in Poverty 350,319 7.37% 434,577 8.34%
18 to 64 Years 2,878,126 60.54% 3,205,840 61.51%
In Poverty 264,876 5.57% 252,127 4.84%
Not in Poverty 2,613,250 54.97% 2,953,713 56.68%
65 Years and Above 604,812 12.72% 662,813 12.72%
In Poverty 54,806 1.15% 49,245 0.94%
Not in Poverty 550,006 11.57% 613,568 11.77%

* 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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