Rice 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* 43,425 100.00% 50,246 100.00%
In Poverty 3,791 8.73% 3,485 6.94%
Not in Poverty 39,634 91.27% 46,761 93.06%
11 Years and Under 8,953 20.62% 8,784 17.48%
In Poverty 807 1.86% 580 1.15%
Not in Poverty 8,146 18.76% 8,204 16.33%
12 to 17 Years 3,660 8.43% 5,142 10.23%
In Poverty 249 0.57% 303 0.60%
Not in Poverty 3,411 7.85% 4,839 9.63%
18 to 64 Years 25,507 58.74% 30,619 60.94%
In Poverty 2,066 4.76% 1,993 3.97%
Not in Poverty 23,441 53.98% 28,626 56.97%
65 Years and Above 5,305 12.22% 5,701 11.35%
In Poverty 669 1.54% 609 1.21%
Not in Poverty 4,636 10.68% 5,092 10.13%

* 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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