The Census Bureau has released the 2010 report on poverty in America.

It is difficult to discover anything but estimates on the number of non-citizens living in the United States. Some of these are legal residents. Others have overstayed visas or just crossed the border without documentation.

In its annual report, the Census Bureau attempts to estimate this data and the number of non-citizens living in poverty. These are estimates and could be off by hundreds of thousands. How does this happen?

• The 2010 Census, used to apportion the seats in the U.S. House of Representatives as well as for many other uses reports that the population of the United States was 308,745,538.
• The Report on Poverty in the United States, on page 15, Table 4, shows a population of 305,688,000.
• The Census Bureau’s report titled Nativity Status and Citizenship in the United States: 2009 shows a U.S. population of 307,007,000.

Clearly, if the total population of the United States cannot be estimated and reported, the number of non-citizens is also variable. The 2009 report shows 21,671,000 non-citizens and the 2010 poverty report shows 21,403,000.

This series explores the data, and estimates, in the 2010 poverty report so those figures will be used. The term “Hispanic” is used as in the rest of the series, and is treated as a race for data analysis purposes.

Seven percent of the U.S. population are non-citizens, and 12.4% of those living in poverty are non-citizens. All of the racial categories of non-citizens have higher rates of poverty than the U.S. population as a whole.

Non-citizens in America by race 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Non-citizens in America living in poverty 2010. Click on the chart for a larget image.

All charts were prepared from the data in the report by Charles Simmins.

The Census Bureau has released the 2010 report on poverty in America. Follow this site for in depth reports, and lots of charts, on this topic during the next week.

Being Hispanic is not a race thing. It’s an identity thing. Hispanics can be members of any race or any combination of races. The actions of a few Hispanics are unfairly used to tar them all.

Of 305.7 million Americans used as the baseline in the poverty report, Hispanics of all races were 49.9 million or 16.3% of the country’s residents. 12.3 million Hispanics are non-citizens. 75% of all Hispanics living in the United States are citizens.

26.6% of Hispanics are living in poverty. 32.3% of non-citizen Hispanics are living in poverty. Of the 13,243,000 Hispanics living in poverty, 3,995,000 are non-citizens. 70% of Hispanic Americans living in poverty are citizens.

Hispanic poverty in America by citizenship status. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Hispanic poverty in America from 1972 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Hispanic poverty in America from 1990 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Hispanic poverty rate in America from 1972 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Hispanic poverty rates in America from 1990 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Future pieces in this series will examine poverty in America by citizenship and will also look at wage equity for women.

All charts were prepared from the data in the report by Charles Simmins.

The Census Bureau has released the 2010 report on poverty in America. Follow this site for in depth reports, and lots of charts, on this topic during the next week.

For the 2002 report, the category the Census Bureau called “Black” was changed to read “Black alone” and a new category was added called “Black alone or in combination”. For this piece, the data was drawn from the first two categories.

Black poverty in America is tied to two measures, the unemployment rate and the poverty rate for single mom families. Despite the existence of deep poverty in America’s black community, the historical rates are much lower than in the 1960′s. The trend has continued for the last twenty years, which saw a record low for the black poverty rate.

Black poverty rate in America from 1965 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Black poverty in America from 1990 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

The 2010 poverty report reveals the following about blacks and black families in America.

• Of the just under 40 million black in the United States, 31.4 million live in families. That is 81%.
• 14.2 million blacks live in families with a female head of household and no husband present. That represents 37% of all American blacks.
• 10.7 million blacks in America live in poverty. 27.4%.
• 26% of those living in black families live in poverty.
• 41% of those living in black single mom households live in poverty.
• A staggering 54.6% of all black Americans in poverty live in single mom homes.

Poverty rate for American blacks living in families 1990-2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Poverty rate for black Americans living in families headed by a single female. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Family status of American blacks living in poverty in 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Future pieces in this series will examine poverty in America by race, by citizenship and will also look at wage equity for women.

All charts were prepared from the data in the report by Charles Simmins.

The Census Bureau has released the 2010 report on poverty in America. Follow this site for in depth reports, and lots of charts, on this topic during the next week.

The press is making much of the actual numbers of Americans in poverty. Remember, however, that with a growing population, the numbers will increase even if the rate stays the same. Every person living in poverty matters, but it is the increase or decrease in the rate that will describe most accurately what the economy is doing.

46,180,000 Americans are believed to live in poverty according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Just over 33 million live in families and about 12.4 million are unrelated individuals. 15,895,000 Americans live in poverty in homes headed by a female with no husband present.

The Term “American”, for this piece, includes non-citizens living in the United States. There will be a later report on that topic. For now, they’re included and the media is making the same assumption.

Numbers of Americans living in poverty 1981-2010. Click on chart for a larger version.

Percentage of Americans living in poverty 1961 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger version.

Percentage of Americans living in poverty 1981 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger image.

Americans living in a family group, in poverty, make up 71% of all those in poverty. 34% of all those living in poverty live in families with a female head of household and no husband present. that also is 48% of all those family members living in poverty.

Americans in families living in poverty 1960 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larger view.

Americans in families living in poverty 1981 to 2010. Click on the chart for a larget image.

Future pieces in this series will examine poverty in America by race, by citizenship and will also look at wage equity for women.

All charts were prepared from the data in the report by Charles Simmins.

The Census Bureau has released the 2010 report on poverty in America. Follow this site for in depth reports, and lots of charts, on this topic during the next week.

Quick takes on the Census report.

Income equality between women and men is unchanged from 2009, at 77%. Record was set under George Bush in 2008, 77.1%. Median income for single mom households fell 3.3%. Median income for blacks fell 3.2%. Median income in a home with a disabled householder fell 8.5%.

Poverty rate at its highest level since 1993. Since 1965, only one year has been higher, 1983, 15.2%. Those 18-24 registered the biggest increase in poverty from 2009, 21.9%. Poverty declined in areas outside MSA’s (cities and burbs).

Obama’s claim will be that in nearly every year after the end of a recession, poverty rate increased. The 2010 increase is the largest since 1980, and of the eight recessions cited, 3 rates declined (prior to 1980). The number of people in poverty is 33% higher than after any other recession.

5.7 million non-citizens live in poverty, increase of 1.5%. 27% of all non-citizens live in poverty, and they are 15% of all (citizens and non-citizens) living in poverty.

900,000 more ppl did not have health insurance in 2010 than 2009, though the overall percentage was unchanged at 16.3%. 35% of non-citizens have no health insurance. 8% of households making $75k or more are uninsured.

15.9% of population receiving Medicaid, 14.5% Medicare.

The Census Bureau’s report titled Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2008 contains information on the poverty rates and total persons in poverty for several races. The races are self-defined by the individuals surveyed, and by the Census Bureau in standard terms that may not be helpful in studying this topic.

Hispanics are listed as “of any race”. Blacks have been categorized in two differing ways, Black Alone and Black Alone or in Combination. Let’s look at how the two definitions for Black in the report compare for 2008.

However you define Black, these numbers are well above those for the entire population. Still, it is a matter of perspective. For the purposes of this post, the numbers graphed are from the Black alone category. Click on the graph for a larger image.

Historical graph of black poverty rates in America through 2008

Historical graph of black poverty rates in America 1990 to 2008

It is very clear that black poverty rates in the United States are near record lows. Other than 1999 through 2001, they would be a record low. The Clinton bubble drove the rates to unheard of lows, but the bursting of that bubble seems to have revealed a core poverty rate that seems inflexible, somewhere between 24-25% of the total Black population.

Let’s look at one facet of Black poverty that is often cited as significant, single parent, female head of household. For the purposes of this post, the numbers graphed are from the Black alone category. Click on the graph for a larger image.

Historical poverty rates for Black single parent households headed by females through 2008

Historical poverty rates for Black single parent households headed by females 1990 to 2008

Rates are at near historical lows, but appear to be edging upward, advancing from 37% to 40% in the last eight years. Still, the 2008 is lower than any rate from 1999 on back.

Again, the numbers suggest a core of Black people in poverty, in this case people living in single parent households headed by a female.

It is the people who are in permanent poverty, the core, that ought to worry Americans. The data appears to suggest that despite some of the best economies of the last several generations, a group of Blacks failed to benefit from the successes. Single family households seem to be at the center of this, accounting for nearly 2/3 of those in core poverty.

The Census Bureau has released its report titled: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2008. The release of the report was delayed by about a month by the administration.

Highlights

• The official poverty rate in 2008 was 13.2 percent, up from 12.5 percent in 2007. This was the first statistically significant annual increase in the poverty rate since 2004, when poverty increased to 12.7 percent from 12.5 percent in 2003.
• In 2008, 39.8 million people were in poverty, up from 37.3 million in 2007 — the second consecutive annual increase in the number of people in poverty.
• In 2008, the poverty rate increased for non-Hispanic Whites (8.6 percent in 2008 — up from 8.2 percent in 2007), Asians (11.8 percent in 2008 — up from 10.2 percent in 2007) and Hispanics (23.2 percent in 2008 — up from 21.5 percent in 2007). Poverty rates in 2008 were statistically unchanged for Blacks (24.7 percent).
• The poverty rate in 2008 (13.2 percent) was the highest poverty rate since 1997 but was 9.2 percentage points lower than in 1959, the first year for which poverty estimates are available.
• Since 1960, the number of people below poverty has not exceeded the 2008 figure of 39.8 million people.^[1]
• The poverty rate increased for children under 18 years old (19.0 percent in 2008 — up from 18.0 percent in 2007) and people 18 to 64 years old (11.7 percent in 2008 — up from 10.9 percent in 2007), while it remained statistically unchanged for people 65 years and over (9.7 percent).^[2]

Some comparisons are called for since year over year numbers can be a bit misleading.

Here is a comparison of the poverty rates by term for recent Presidents.

Graph of historical poverty rates in the United States through 2008 for entire population

Graph of historical poverty rates for families in the United States through 2008

In 1981, 30% of Americans earned under $25,000 a year, and 41% earned over $50,000 per year. In 2008, 25% earned under $25,000 and 50% earned over $50,000 a year.

The remaining entries in the series will explore poverty in the elderly, the black and Hispanic community and the issue of wage parity between men and women.

Remember how old people used to get by on cans of cat food? Well, at least under George Bush, things are better than that. The poverty rate for people over 65 was at a record low in 2006, 9.4%, and is at its second lowest for 2007, 9.7%.

Looking at the graph, do you suppose that the crisis with the elderly may have been exaggerated? It appears that, in the post-industrial economy, the poverty rate for the elderly seems to hover around 10%. That may be a baseline given all the factors that go into that rate. The drop from 15% to 10% took about 20 years. Another drop of one third could be possible, 10 to 7%, but we are a decade at about 10%.

On the other end of the spectrum, children living in poverty is at 18%, the highest rate since 1998. That stat is driven by a black children’s poverty rate of 34.5% and a Hispanic rate of 28.6%. 4.5 million Hispanic children live in poverty and 3.9 million black children. 13.3 million children of all races live in poverty with the vast majority being black and Hispanic.

American women reached record wage parity with men in 2007. Women earned 77.8 cents for every dollar earned by men.

Bill Clinton averaged a parity of 72.6% for his first seven years. George Bush has averaged 76.7%. Of Bush’s seven years in office, four set new, all-time highs for wage parity between the sexes.

Click on a graph to see an enlarged image.

Clearly the earnings of both blacks and Hispanics over the last 17 years has improved significantly, with more of each population moving in to higher income levels.

The average income for all blacks in 2007 was $46,631. This is the third highest average in history, exceeded only by the years 1999 and 2000.

The average income for Hispanics in 2007 was $50,828. While it is lower than last year’s all-time record, it is higher than all years preceding 2000.

The graphs show that the poverty rate for both minorities is at near record lows. For blacks, only three Clinton years and three Bush years are lower.

A similar pattern appears in the graph of the Hispanic poverty rate. 2006 had the lowest Hispanic poverty rate on record.

The Census Bureau is scheduled to release its annual report titled “Income, Poverty, Health Insurance Coverage and American Community Survey: 2007″ on August 26, 2008. This will be the fourth year that America’s North Shore Journal has covered the report.

The report is always a year behind reality. We’ll be looking at a mass of statistics from 2007 and preceding years covering income, poverty and health insurance coverage, broken down in many different ways, by sex, by family type, by ethnicity and by age among others.

America’s North Shore Journal will concentrate its coverage on the income and poverty statistics. Bluntly, the numbers on health insurance coverage have been kept for less than a decade so they’re worth little to us for any realistic analysis.

Let’s take a preliminary look at 2007:

Average unemployment rate:
All 4.64%
White 4.12%
Black 8.27%
Hispanic 5.65%
Men 4.14%
Women 4.02%

Average number of employed: 146,049,417

Increase in jobs 1/1-12/31/2007: 262,000

And, just as a teaser, average weekly earnings for the private sector were at record highs from January through October 2007.

It would appear unlikely that the report from the Census Bureau will show a problem with poverty in America in 2007.