Overlooked and Undercounted - Insight Center for Community ...

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4 — OVERLOOKED AND UNDERCOUNTED KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS USED IN THIS REPORT Household: The household is one or more persons residing together in a housing unit (apartment, house, mobile home, etc.). Households may consist of a family, unrelated individual(s), or both. The sample unit used in this study is the household. Householder: The householder is the person in whose name the housing unit is rented or owned; when there are two or more owners/renters, then the householder is the person who designates himself/herself as the householder. When appropriate, the characteristics of the householder are reported (e.g. citizenship, educational attainment, and occupation). When a variable is reported based on that of the householder it may not reflect the entire household. For example, in a household with a non-citizen householder other members of the household may be citizens. Non-Family Household: A household that consists of a person living alone or with one or more non-relatives. Family Household: A household in which there are two or more persons (one of whom is the householder) residing together and who are related by birth, marriage, or adoption. Single Father or Single Mother: For simplicity, a male maintaining a household with no spouse present but with children is referred to as a single father in the text. Likewise, a woman maintaining a household with no spouse present but with children is referred to as a single mother. Note that in a few cases the child may be a grandchild, niece/nephew, or unrelated child (such as a foster child). Income Inadequacy: The term income inadequacy refers to an income that is too low to meet basic needs as measured by the Self-Sufficiency Standard. Other terms used interchangeably in this report that refer to inadequate income include: “below the Standard,” “lacking sufficient (or adequate) income,” and “income that is not sufficient (or adequate) to meet basic needs”. IV. Detailed Findings How many households in Mississippi lack adequate income? If the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) is used, about 18% of Mississippi households included in the analysis for this report are designated officially as poor (excluding elderly and disabled). 9 Using the Self-Sufficiency Standard, 32%, or one in three households, lack sufficient income to meet their basic costs in Mississippi (see Figure 2. One in three Mississippi Households are below the Self-Sufficiency Standard. Figure 2). This is almost double the proportion found to be poor using the FPL. To contrast the picture of income inadequacy that emerges when the Standard is used as a benchmark versus when the FPL is used, data for both these measures is presented in this report. Each table divides Mississippi households into three groups based on their household income: Those households whose incomes are below both the FPL and the Standard (families below the FPL are always also below the Standard), 10 Those households whose incomes are above the FPL, but below the Standard; and
STRUGGLING TO MAKE ENDS MEET IN MISSISSIPPI — 5 Those households whose incomes are above the Standard, which is always above the FPL. Figure 3. Map of the Percent of Households Below the Self-Sufficiency Standard by County For convenience, the total percent of families below the Standard is highlighted in each table in the second to last column. Data tables are provided in both the text section and in Appendix B. Generally, tables in the text section provide the total population in a given subgroup and the percent of the population in a given subgroup who fall into each of the three groups described above. The corresponding Appendix tables appear in the same order as the tables in the text and provide the raw numbers for each group as well as percents and more detail. Additionally, Appendix B contains detailed tables for figures included in the text. A. THE GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME ADEQUACY Overall, as depicted in Figure 3, the proportion of households with insufficient income varies greatly by county, from a low of 18% to a high of 48% of households. The lowest household income inadequacy rates are DeSoto (18%), Madison (19%), and Rankin (21%) counties, all counties that are suburban in character. The counties with the highest income inadequacy rates are in the Delta region of the state. In five Delta counties—Carroll, Humphreys, Leflore, Sunflower, and Tallahatchie—almost one-half of all households have inadequate income. In four counties in the Golden Triangle region (Chickasaw, Clay, Oktibbeha and Winston) plus Washington and Bolivar Counties in the Delta, over two-fifths of households lack adequate income to meet their basic needs. Moreover, in all of these eleven counties, more than two-thirds of households with incomes below the Standard are also below the FPL. This high level of very low income for those below the Standard reflects in part the lower cost of living (so the Standards are closer to the FPL level than elsewhere in the state) but most importantly, the deep poverty of a large proportion of households in these areas. At the same time, in the two non-Delta counties, Forest and Lamar, where more than two-fifths of households are below the Standard, less than half of those below the Standard are also below the FPL. The next group of counties, where more than one-third (but less IN FIVE DELTA COUNTIES — CARROLL, HUMPHREYS, LEFLORE, SUNFLOWER, AND TALLAHATCHIE — ALMOST ONE-HALF OF ALL HOUSEHOLDS HAVE INADEQUATE INCOME. than 40%) of households have insufficient incomes, also have high rates of poverty: in all but one of these twenty-nine counties—which are found in the Delta, central Mississippi, and on the southern border with Louisiana—more than half, and often more than three-
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