State Overview -- Population With Income Below the Federal Poverty Level 1990-2000
What is the Federal Poverty Level and how is it determined?
Families and unrelated individuals are classified as being above or below the poverty level using the poverty index originated at the Social Security Administration in 1964 and revised by Federal Interagency Committees in 1969 and 1980.
The poverty index is based solely on money income and does not reflect the fact that many low-income persons receive noncash benefits such as food stamps, Medicaid, public housing, etc. Whether the income of a family or household is above or below the poverty level depends on income and the number of persons in the household. The poverty thresholds are updated every year to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index.
The 2000 Population Census reports the number of households, families and persons whose income was below the poverty level in 1999 - the income year reported in the 2000 Census. In 1999 the official federal poverty threshold for a single person household was $8,667 if the person was below age 65 and $7,990 if the person was over age 65. For a two person household under age 65 the 1999 poverty threshold was $11,214; for a three person household the threshold was $13,290; for four persons it was $17,029; for five persons it increased to $20,127 and increased by about $3,000 for each additional person in the household up to $34,417 for nine persons or more.
Change in Missouri Poverty Population 1990-2000
According to the 2000 Population Census, 637,891 Missourians had a 1999 income below the federal poverty level. However, as indicated in Table 1, the number of Missourians with below poverty level income declined by 25,184 from1990 to 2000 - a decrease of 3.8 percent. Accordingly, the percent of Missourians with an income below the poverty line decreased from 13.3 percent of the total population in 1989 (1990 Census) to 11.7 percent of the total population in 1999 (2000 Census).
However, as indicated in Table 1, there are significant differences in poverty rates among the different age groups. The greatest proportional decline in poverty population occurred among those Missourians age 65 and over. The number of senior Missourians with an income below the poverty level declined by 29.0 percent. In 1989 there were 99,306 older Missourians having less than poverty level income (14.8 percent of the senior population). However, by 1999 the number of seniors below the poverty line declined to 70,476, just under 10 percent of the senior population.
As shown in Table 1 the highest proportion of persons living below the poverty line is children age 17 and under. Although the number of children below the poverty line decreased by 7.7 percent from 1990 to 2000 more than 15 percent of Missouri's children in 1999 were living in homes with an income below the poverty line. That is a much higher proportion than either adults or senior citizens.
It is somewhat surprising to note in Table 1 that the number of persons between the ages of 18 and 64 who were living on an income below the poverty line actually increased during the 1990s. More analysis concerning the reason for this increase will be done in a following section focusing on the location of adults having an income below the poverty line in 1999.
Why the Size of the Poverty Level Population Declined During the 1990s
The latter half of the 1990s was a period of unprecedented growth in income and employment throughout the United States. Missouri shared in that economic growth. Unemployment reached the lowest levels in more than 30 years and, because of growth in demand for workers, the number of families having two or more incomes increased significantly. In addition Missouri's economy benefited from a relatively high level of in-migration. During the 1990s about 260,000 more people moved to Missouri than moved away. That is in great contrast to the 1980s when about 65,000 more people moved away from Missouri than moved in. Many of those who moved to Missouri during the past decade contributed importantly to growth of income and employment.
| Map 1 click map for larger version 
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However, as will be reported and discussed in following sections, decline in proportion of Missouri's population living on less than poverty level income was not equally distributed throughout the state. There were 29 counties in which the size of the poverty level population increased during the 1990s. Map 1 shows the distribution of counties by rate of change in poverty population during the 1990s. The proportion of the population below the poverty level among the counties ranged from a low of 4.0 percent in St. Charles County to a high of 30.4 percent in Pemiscot County.
The following sections will present and analyze Census poverty data for counties and regions throughout the state. Separate sections will focus on: (1) the total poverty population reported for counties and regions; (2) the extent of poverty among Missourians age 65 and over; (3) poverty rates among children under age 18; and, (4) poverty rates for the adult population age 18-64.
| Detailed Tables about Missourians with Income Below the Federal Poverty Guideline | ||
| The following links provide detailed tables about Missourians with Income Below the Federal Poverty Guideline. They are in both HTML and Adobe Acrobat (PDF) formats. | ||
| All Missouri Counties | ||
| Individuals Below Poverty Level, 1990-2000 - By County with State Totals | HTML | |
| Regional Tables | ||
| UO/E Regions | ||
| Individuals Below Poverty Level, 1990-2000 - By UM Extension Region | HTML | |
| DED Regions | ||
| Individuals Below Poverty Level, 1990-2000 - By DED Region | HTML | |
| MoDOT Regions | ||
| Individuals Below Poverty Level, 1990-2000 - By DOT District | HTML | |
This file last modified Friday May 08, 2009, 14:28:36
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