Contra Costa 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* 792,109 100.00% 938,310 100.00%
In Poverty 57,867 7.31% 71,575 7.63%
Not in Poverty 734,242 92.69% 866,735 92.37%
11 Years and Under 137,901 17.41% 166,203 17.71%
In Poverty 15,888 2.01% 17,485 1.86%
Not in Poverty 122,013 15.40% 148,718 15.85%
12 to 17 Years 60,000 7.57% 80,791 8.61%
In Poverty 6,016 0.76% 7,619 0.81%
Not in Poverty 53,984 6.82% 73,172 7.80%
18 to 64 Years 510,180 64.41% 587,347 62.60%
In Poverty 31,475 3.97% 40,247 4.29%
Not in Poverty 478,705 60.43% 547,100 58.31%
65 Years and Above 84,028 10.61% 103,969 11.08%
In Poverty 4,488 0.57% 6,224 0.66%
Not in Poverty 79,540 10.04% 97,745 10.42%

* 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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