Demographic Profile of Senior in Wayne County, Michigan

seniors lived in Sector 2 in 2000 than in 1990 – a decrease of 72 percent. This loss was
partially offset by an increase (1,844, or 54%) in minority population – primarily
African-American. This sector, above all others, demonstrates the changing racial
composition of Region 1-A’s senior population. Sector 9, the only sector to show
population gain, shared common trends with Sector 2, as it also lost white seniors but
gained enough minority seniors, enough in its case to overcome that loss. The white
population loss, in percentage terms, was second only to Sector 2 at 63.5 percent.
However, the minority population increase of 22.6 percent (2,466 persons) resulted in an
overall population gain.
Table 20. Change in the Population 60 Years and Over, by Race, by Sector, 1990 - 2000
Sectors
Minority Minority
Minority 60+ White 60+
75+ 85+
White
75+
White
85+
1 -535 -5.0 527 130 -4,246 -60.8 -1,121 -149
2 1,844 53.7 494 50 -7,488 -71.6 -2,345 -499
3 -2,019 -12.7 762 318 -3,921 -53.5 -1,584 -515
4 -4,140 -27.6 -1,094 -149 -2,256 -57.0 -676 -236
5 -84 -1.4 384 18 -4,997 -52.3 -1,133 -178
6 -6,808 -29.6 -183 -20 -352 -55.8 -217 -89
7 1,430 17.7 797 101 -4,748 -50.7 -565 -73
8 2,474 62.3 850 253 -4,014 -58.1 -1,384 -582
9 2,466 22.6 1,214 172 -1,195 -63.5 -498 -175
10 161 1.3 1,261 170 -391 -41.4 -191 -73
11 -100 -2.8 185 104 -1,830 -39.0 -140 -7
12 320 415.6 68 23 -3,207 -20.2 291 13
Region Totals -4,991 -4.4 5,265 1,170 -38,645 -49.2 -9,563 -2,563
Poverty Trends
Table 21 shows that the total number of poor in Region 1-A decreased over the decade by
almost 10,000 persons, or 28 percent 8 . This percentage loss was just slightly higher than
that of total population loss in the 60+ category, as a result of the decrease in the region’s
overall poverty rate from 19.0 to 17.7 percent. The poverty rate in 1989 varied greatly
across sectors – ranging from 3.6 percent in Sector 12 (the Grosse Pointes) to 35.4
percent in Sector 4, which covers Detroit’s downtown. Three sectors – 3, 4 and 6 –
together accounted for almost half of the poor seniors in the region.
The Region’s drop in poverty among seniors was not reflected in all sectors. In fact, only
six sectors experienced decreases in poverty, while six experienced increases. The
ranking of Sector 12 as lowest and Sector 2 as highest held, though the gap between them
decreased slightly. The largest decrease occurred in Sector 4, which, while remaining the
sector with the highest percentage of seniors in poverty, saw its rate drop from 35.4 to
29.8 percent. Sector 9 came next with a decrease of 2.4 percentage points, from 17.8 to
15.4. The greatest increases were experienced in Sectors 1 and 2. In spite of increases in
poverty rates in half the sectors, the number of seniors in poverty decreased in all sectors.
8 The poverty data for 1999 represent an estimate prepared by the author. Because the Census Bureau did
not tabulate poverty for persons 60+, an allocation was made to the 55-64 years in poverty category based
on each sector’s share of the 55-64 years cohort that fell between 60 and 64 years of age.
A Demographic Profile of Seniors in PSA 1-A 19