Random Samplings

What About the 90+?

Written by: Wan He, Mark Muenchrath, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau

Is your grandmother or great-grandmother 90 or older, widowed, living in a nursing home, and experiencing one or more disabilities? If so, she is not alone. In 2006-2008, there were 1.3 million women age 90 and older in the United States, representing three-fourths of the total 90-and-older population. Among the 90-plus women, eight out of 10 were widowed, four out of 10 lived alone, a quarter lived in a nursing home, and the vast majority had at least one disability.

People 90 and older nearly tripled from 720,000 in 1980 to almost 2 million in 2010 and are projected to quadruple by 2050. Their share among the older population (65 and older) grew from 2.8 percent in 1980 to 4.7 percent in 2010 and is projected to reach about 10 percent in 2050. Can you imagine a society, 40 years from now, where 20 percent of the total population will be a person age 65 and older and one in 10 of them is someone 90 or older?

The implications for the family and our society of this growing population are likely to be significant. The older people get the more likely they are to be limited by disabilities, which may make fully taking care of themselves difficult.

An older person’s likelihood of living in a nursing facility increases sharply with age. While only 1 percent of people in their upper 60s and 3 percent in their upper 70s were in nursing homes, the proportion rose to 20 percent for those in their lower 90s, more than 30 percent for people in their upper 90s, and nearly 40 percent for centenarians. A quarter of the 90-plus women lived in a nursing home, compared with about 15 percent of the 90-plus men.

Read the report....

Read the press release...

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Households Doubling Up

Written by: David Johnson, US Census Bureau

In coping with economic challenges over the past few years, many of us have combined households with other family members or individuals. These “doubled-up” households are defined as those that include at least one “additional” adult – in other words, a person 18 or older who is not enrolled in school and is not the householder, spouse or cohabiting partner of the householder.

The Census Bureau reported today that the number and share of doubled-up households and adults sharing households across the country increased over the course of the recession, which began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. In spring 2007, there were 19.7 million doubled-up households, amounting to 17.0 percent of all households. Four years later, in spring 2011, the number of such households had climbed to 21.8 million, or 18.3 percent.

All in all, 61.7 million adults, or 27.7 percent, were doubled-up in 2007, rising to 69.2 million, or 30.0 percent, in 2011.

Young adults were especially hard-hit, with 5.9 million people ages 25 to 34 living in their parents’ household in 2011, up from 4.7 million before the recession. That left 14.2 percent of young adults living in their parents’ households in March 2011, up more than two percentage points over the period.

These young adults who lived with their parents had an official poverty rate of only 8.4 percent, since the income of their entire family is compared with the poverty threshold. If their poverty status were determined by their own income, 45.3 percent would have had income falling below the poverty threshold for a single person under age 65.

Each year, the Census Bureau asks people in roughly 78,000 households about their income in the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to our Current Population Survey. If you are one of them, remember that your answer is very important and kept in strict confidence. This information helps our nation address the many problems of poverty and find solutions.

To learn more about poverty at the local level, you can consult results from the American Community Survey, which has statistics from counties, cities and smaller areas.

To access all of our poverty data, visit our website.

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Visualizing Income and Poverty Estimates

Written by: Wesley Basel and KaNin Reese, US Census Bureau

Recently the U.S. Census Bureau added interactive maps to the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates program's (SAIPE) website. This web-based interactive tool allows users to select, map, and display estimates of poverty by state, county and school district, and median household income by state and county.

The SAIPE program is the only source of poverty estimates for every county and school district based on the most recently available year of survey and auxiliary data. The school district poverty estimates are used by the U.S. Department of Education in the formula for allocating Title I funds, as directed by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Currently $14 billion are allocated to school districts for Title I purposes.

COUNTY MAP: United States

The default display when you first click on the SAIPE interactive map link is state-level poverty for all people. To display the county map, choose counties in the first dropdown on the upper left, then press the Go button.

In addition to the poverty estimate for all ages, the user may also select percent in poverty for under age 18 or ages 5-17 in families. One can also view the county-level data for median household income.

To see more detail on the interactive map, you can double-click to zoom in. There are also zoom controls below the map pane.  This snapshot emphasizes the ability to concentrate on a specific geographic area. In this case, the range of median household income in the St. Louis area is the focus. Note that when one hovers over an individual area, a pop-up balloon displays the name and estimates value for that specific area. Also the table of estimates displayed below the map pane is linked to the area being highlighted.

MULTIPLE STATE COUNTY MAP: St. Louis Metropolitan Area

The final snapshot depicts school district poverty estimates for children age 5 to 17 in families, which can be viewed for each individual state. In the drop-downs at the top of the map pane, select “Unified and Elementary Districts” from the left drop down, and then Texas (for e.g.) from the right. The zoom feature allows you to focus on a detailed portion of the state and the hover feature allows you to view poverty estimates from one school district to another, as well as displaying the name to help one locate a specific district.

Note also you can select different backgrounds for the map from the dropdown box at the lower right of the map pane. You can have a blank background to present a clearer picture of the poverty differences in the area, or you can display street view as shown below, to assist in placing the district boundaries in the context of streets and cities in the area.

SCHOOL DISTRICT MAP: Houston Independent School District, Texas

The SAIPE interactive mapping tool was released in May 2011 and features estimates from 2009. More options for downloading the 2009 SAIPE estimates are also available. SAIPE estimates for 2010 are planned for release in December 2011.

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The World at Your Fingertips

Written by: Ian O'Brien, Branch Chief - Statistical Compendia Branch, Administrative and Customer Services Division

Did you know that Raleigh, N.C., was the fastest-growing large metro area in the last decade?  (View table 21). That only about 5 percent of us take public transportation to work? (View table 1099). Well, thanks to the Statistical Abstract, now you know.

Perennially the federal government’s best-selling publication, the Statistical Abstract has been published yearly since 1878. The 2011 edition, the 130th in the series, has more than 1,400 tables ─ including 65 new ones ─ from sources both government and private.

Think of a key factor in your life and chances are you will find information on it in the Statistical Abstract: health, education, crime, agriculture ─ no matter. If you need a stat, this is the place to turn.

The Abstract provides copious amounts of data on topics that have been in the news ─ mining fatalities, offshore oil drilling, and distracted drivers. It also examines the more offbeat: people injured in accidents involving televisions (table 197), cyberbullying (table 247) and honey bee colonies (table 860).

And when you need data on pretty much any topic that ends up being in the news in the coming year, count on finding it in the Stat Abstract.

For more information, read the press release or visit the 2011 Statistical Abstract website.

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New Moms Who Cohabit

When one pictures an unmarried mother, one might conjure up an image of a woman who is raising her child alone. And many of them do so. But a fair number of these women are actually living with a cohabiting partner.

Demographers who have long studied this issue should be aware that, for the first time, the Census Bureau is releasing data on births to women in cohabitational relationships. The information comes from the June Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS).

Even though the CPS is best known for providing the data that are used to calculate the monthly unemployment rate, it asks a rotating series of questions of respondents each month that are added to the core questions on labor force participation. Questions relating to the fertility of the nation’s women are included every other June.

The report, Fertility of American Women: 2008, shows the average number of children women have in the US. It also shows the average number of new mothers over time as well as characteristics of new mothers; important information for service providers such as hospitals and day care centers.

Thanks to a direct question on cohabitation that was recently added, we are able to report that among the 1.5 million unmarried women who gave birth during the period between June 2007 and June 2008, about 425,000 ─ 28 percent ─ were living with a cohabitating partner. These unmarried mothers included those who were separated and those married with an absent spouse. Overall, 4 million women age 15 to 44 gave birth during that period.

The report also examines the unemployment situation of new mothers. In 2008, 6 percent of mothers nationally with a recent birth were looking for a job. In Alabama, that proportion was 10 percent and in Hawaii only 1 percent of new mothers were looking for work.

Read the full report: Fertility of American Women: 2008.

To view our data on the fertility of American women, click here.

Read the press release: Census Bureau Reports Nearly 1 in 3 Unmarried Women Who Give Birth Cohabit.

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Measuring Poverty

Written by: David Johnson, Chief, Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division

Open any newspaper or turn on any news broadcast and chances are good you’ll find a story touching on poverty in America. Each year the U.S. Census Bureau offers America a snapshot of poverty in our country.

How many people live in poverty? In 2009, the number was 43.6 million (14.3 percent of our population).

The rate varies for different groups. For instance, it is 20.7 percent for children, but 8.9 percent for people 65 and older. It is 29.9 percent for families with a female householder and 5.8 percent for married-couple families. Additionally, it is 9.4 percent for non-Hispanic whites, 12.5 percent for Asians, 25.8 percent for blacks and 25.3 percent for Hispanics.

We publish poverty data dating back to 1959, which is shortly before the official poverty measure was developed. The number of people in poverty in 2009 – 43.6 million – is the largest number ever recorded in this 51-year period. Partly this is because our population is much larger. The poverty rate in 2009 was the highest since 1994, but is 8 percentage points lower than it was in 1959.

Policymakers and analysts rely heavily on these data as one of the primary measures of the health of our economy, as well as to gauge the effectiveness of government programs. Each year, we ask people in roughly 78,000 households about their income in the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to our Current Population Survey. If you are one of them, remember that your answer is very important. This information helps our nation address the many problems of poverty and find solutions.

To access all of our poverty data, visit our Web site.

Download report: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance, 2009

Download Income and Poverty Fact Sheet

View Census: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance data presentation slides

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