San Mateo 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* 639,086 100.00% 697,649 100.00%
In Poverty 40,405 6.32% 40,692 5.83%
Not in Poverty 598,681 93.68% 656,957 94.17%
11 Years and Under 97,098 15.19% 108,262 15.52%
In Poverty 7,568 1.18% 6,871 0.98%
Not in Poverty 89,530 14.01% 101,391 14.53%
12 to 17 Years 41,434 6.48% 50,226 7.20%
In Poverty 3,639 0.57% 3,414 0.49%
Not in Poverty 37,795 5.91% 46,812 6.71%
18 to 64 Years 423,961 66.34% 454,429 65.14%
In Poverty 24,179 3.78% 26,059 3.74%
Not in Poverty 399,782 62.56% 428,370 61.40%
65 Years and Above 76,593 11.98% 84,732 12.15%
In Poverty 5,019 0.79% 4,348 0.62%
Not in Poverty 71,574 11.20% 80,384 11.52%

* 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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