Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Incomes rose and poverty rates declined across much of the United States during the prosperous 1990s, though vast stretches of rural areas remained among the poorest in the nation.
While nowhere near the top of the heap, Washington state residents continued to have a better-than-average lifestyle. Incomes were higher and the number of people living below the poverty line was lower than the national average.
The median household income for Washington state residents in 1999 was $45,776, up 13.1 percent from 1989, when it was $40,471. The percentage of people in poverty was 10.6 in 1999, down slightly from 10.9 in 1989.
The 2000 census data released Tuesday also showed some metropolitan areas in the Northeast and California stumbling economically in a decade when paychecks grew fatter and more Americans earned college degrees.
That’s the scene painted of prerecession America by the more detailed state-by-state data from long-form census questionnaires. Among the biggest winners: the suburban edges of booming metropolitan areas such as Denver and Atlanta, and the northern California communities in the Silicon Valley area.
"I hope they raise the pay and minimum wage," said Takay Johnson, who lives in a homeless shelter for single mothers in New York City. While the 2000 census showed the poverty rate declining slightly in the country over the 1990s, it rose from 29 percent to 31 percent in the Bronx, where Johnson lives.
"I hear a lot of people hearing they are getting ready to move out of the city and move down to the South," said Johnson, who works the night shift at a fast-food restaurant to help support her year-old son.
John Logan, a sociologist at the State University of New York at Albany, said, "The major centers of economic activity are ceding ground to the South and, incredibly, to the Midwest."
By Tuesday, all 50 states received their first wave of detailed data from questions asked on the 2000 census long form, a survey distributed to 20 million American households. The form covered topics from income to education to commuting.
Data released last year covered questions asked of all Americans during the last head count.
Some highlights from national data released Tuesday:
The poverty level differs according to the makeup of a household. For instance, in 1999 the poverty threshold for a family of four, including three children, was $16,954. By comparison, that threshold for a three-person household with one child was $13,410.
The figures reaffirmed that better-educated people typically make more money. Douglas County, Colo., a booming suburb of Denver, had the country’s highest median household income at $82,929. Over half of county residents 25 and older graduated from college.
"I grew up on the East Coast and was ready for a change of lifestyle," said Justin Moore, who opened Jarre Creek Ranch Brewery in Castle Rock, a part of Douglas County, in 1997. "The more people there are, the more a business has a chance of surviving."
Demographer Martha Farnsworth Riche, a former head of the Census Bureau, said, "As always, growth occurred in places with the most vibrant economies."
Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
