Income Money and Poverty Status - Poverty Status Of Minorities

Despite the fact that Native Americans and Alaska Natives had higher average incomes than African-Americans and Hispanics, the group had higher poverty rates than African-Americans and Hispanics as well. Native Americans and Alaska Natives had a 25.9 percent poverty rate between 1998 and 2000, compared to 23.9 percent for African-Americans and 23.1 percent for Hispanics. On the other end of the spectrum, APIs had a poverty rate of 11.3 percent, and non-Hispanic whites had the lowest poverty rate at 7.8 percent. (See Table 5.4.)

Every year the Census Bureau establishes poverty thresholds that determine the distribution of different welfare benefits. A family of four was considered poor in 2002 if it had an income below the poverty threshold of $18,556. The average poverty threshold ranged from $8,628 for a person aged sixty-five or over who lived alone, to $39,843 for a family with nine or more members. (See Table 5.5.)

In Poverty in the United States: 2002 (Washington, DC, 2003), the Census Bureau reported that about 34.6 million persons—12.1 percent of the nation's population—were living below the official poverty level in 2002. (See Table 5.6.) The poverty rate in 2002 was lower than the rate of 15.2 percent reached in 1983 after the recession of the early 1980s. (See Figure 5.3 for 1959 to 2002 rates.) It was also lower than the 12.7 percent rate in 1998. In 2002 the poverty rate among some minorities was significantly higher than the overall rate, with an African-American alone poverty rate of 24.1 percent and a Hispanic rate of 21.8 percent. The non-Hispanic white rate of 8 percent and the Asian alone rate of 10 percent were lower than the overall rate. (See Table 5.6.)

Although non-Hispanic whites had a much lower poverty rate than other groups, they made up the biggest portion (45 percent) of poor persons in 2002. Individuals who identified themselves as "African-American alone" accounted for 24.9 percent of all persons below the poverty level. About 24.7 percent of all poor persons were Hispanics, who may be of any race. Asians, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders, either alone or in combination, made up 4 percent of the nation's poor. (See Table 5.6.) Among Hispanic subgroups, 26.1 percent of Puerto Ricans lived below the poverty level in 2001, compared to 22.8 percent of Mexicans, and 16.5 percent of Cubans. Central and South Americans had the lowest poverty rate with 15.2 percent. (See Figure 5.4.)