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Poverty and Median Income in the United States |
What this map layer shows:
Poverty and median
household income estimates, by county, for the years 1998 to 2002. |
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Background Information |
Sample Map
The U.S. Census Bureau, with support from other Federal agencies, created
the Small
Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) program to provide
more current estimates of selected income and poverty statistics than
the most recent decennial census. Model-based estimates are created for
States, counties, and school districts. The main objective of SAIPE is
to provide updated estimates of income and poverty statistics for the
administration of Federal programs and the allocation of Federal funds
to local jurisdictions. Estimates are modeled using a variety of data
sources, including summarized information from individual Federal income
tax returns, numbers of food stamp participants, and population information.
For the purposes of the SAIPE, poverty status is defined by family;
either everyone in the family is in poverty or no one in the family is
in poverty. The number of people in poverty is established using poverty
income thresholds, which are dollar amounts used to determine poverty
status and which vary depending on the number of people in the family,
the number of related children under 18, and whether the primary householder
is over age 65. An income threshold is determined given a particular
family's set of characteristics; if that family's income is below that
threshold, the family is in poverty.
The National Atlas offers two data files that include poverty and
median income in the United States: Poverty and Median Income in the United
States 1998-2000 and Poverty and Median Income in the United States
2001-2002. These two databases include poverty and median household income estimates,
by county, for the fifty United States and the District of Columbia.
The databases were produced by the National Atlas of the United States® from
data obtained from the SAIPE. Included are statistics on the percentage
of people in poverty, the percentage of people ages 0 to 17 in poverty,
and the percentage of related children ages 5 to 17 in families in
poverty. Also included are median household income estimates. Additional
information on poverty thresholds is available from the U.S. Census
Bureau
How
the Census Bureau Measures Poverty page.
Related links:
If you download the data for Poverty and Median
Income in the United States 1998-2000, you may also want to download
the 2000 County Boundaries data. These two map layers can be used
together to create maps of 1998-2000 poverty information.
Download 2000 County Boundaries
If you download the data for Poverty and
Median Income in the United States 2001-2002, you may also want to
download the 2001 County Boundaries data. These two map layers
can be used together to create maps of 2001 and 2002 poverty information.
Download 2001 County Boundaries
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