census

Table 7.
Income Deficit or Surplus of Families and Unrelated Individuals by Poverty Status: 2005
(Numbers of families and unrelated individuals in thousands, deficits and surpluses and their confidence intervals (C.I.) in dollars)
Characteristic
Total
Under
$500
$500
to
$999
$1,000
to
$1,999
Size of deficit or surplus
$2,000
to
$2,999
$3,000
to
$3,999
$4,000
to
$4,999
$5,000
to
$5,999
$6,000
to
$6,999
$7,000
to
$7,999
$8,000
or
more
Average deficit
or surplus
Estimate
90-
percent
C.I. 1 (±)
Deficit or
surplus per
capita
Estimate
90-
percent
C.I. 1 (±)
Below Poverty
Threshold, Deficit
All families . . . ......... 7,657 318 321 574 513 527 509 526 466 385 3,519 8,125 112 2,387 54
Married-couple
families. . . . . ....... 2,944 142 156 279 205 238 204 211 143 125 1,240 7,632 184 2,046 76
Families with a male
householder, no
wife present . . . . . . . 669 32 32 48 66 54 46 53 35 21 282 7,359 349 2,546 199
Families with a
female householder,
no husband
present. . . ......... 4,044 144 133 247 241 235 259 262 288 239 1,996 8,610 150 2,647 79
Unrelated individuals . . . 10,425 853 536 1,161 1,393 907 544 515 403 462 3,652 5,361 61 5,361 153
Male . . . ............ 4,315 391 177 443 544 304 219 236 165 196 1,639 5,605 97 5,605 255
Female . . . .......... 6,111 461 358 717 849 604 325 279 238 266 2,013 5,189 79 5,189 197
Above Poverty
Threshold, Surplus
All families . . . ......... 69,761 342 335 710 715 705 833 771 869 787 63,693 63,959 520 20,626 286
Married-couple
families. . . . . ....... 55,244 180 188 396 370 413 411 439 532 482 51,834 70,824 612 22,391 313
Families with a male
householder, no
wife present . . . . . . . 4,465 28 16 53 56 57 110 76 97 75 3,897 46,160 1,606 16,505 702
Families with a
female householder,
no husband
present. . . ......... 10,051 134 130 262 290 235 312 257 241 230 7,962 34,135 903 11,794 368
Unrelated individuals . . . 39,100 515 579 1,476 1,316 1,229 1,455 1,189 985 1,084 29,272 29,499 443 29,499 586
Male . . . ............ 19,843 162 257 662 513 442 697 494 410 467 15,739 33,933 775 33,933 999
Female . . . .......... 19,257 353 322 813 803 787 758 695 575 618 13,533 24,931 406 24,931 620
1 A 90-percent confidence interval is a measure of an estimate’s variability. The larger the confidence interval in relation to the size of the estimate,
the less reliable the estimate. For more information, see ‘‘Standard Errors and Their Use’’ at .
Note: Details may not sum to totals because of rounding.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 2006 Annual Social and Economic Supplement.
assistance programs, such as
Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF), Medicare, food
stamps, and Low Income Home
Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
The income-to-poverty ratio is
reported as a percentage that compares
a family’s income with its
poverty threshold, which is based on
family size and composition. The
income deficit (surplus) tells how
many dollars a family’s or an unrelated
individual’s (person who does
not live with relatives) income is
below (above) its poverty threshold.
These measures illustrate how the
low-income population varies in relation
to the poverty thresholds.
Ratio of Income to Poverty
Table 6 presents the number and the
percentage of people within three
ranges of income-to-poverty ratios—
those below 50 percent of poverty
(“Under 0.50”), those below
100 percent of poverty (“Under 1.00,”
also called “in poverty”), and those
below 125 percent of poverty
(“Under 1.25”).
In 2005, the percentage and number
of people with income below one-half
of their poverty thresholds was 5.4
percent and 15.9 million, respectively.
This group represented 43.1 percent
of the poverty population in 2005
(Table 6). The percentage of people
with income below 125 percent of
18 Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2005 U.S. Census Bureau