rich got richer in the 90s

[ravi <gadfly@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

i didnt see a mention of this before. sorry if its a repost.

	--ravi


http://salon.com/tech/wire/2002/06/04/rich_richer/index.html

Rich got richer in 1990s
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Genaro C. Armas

June 4, 2002  |  WASHINGTON (AP) -- The economic prosperity of the 1990s
gave a financial boost to Americans who were already doing well,
producing fatter paychecks and more college degrees, Census 2000 figures
show.

Still, many less fortunate Americans were unable to escape poverty.

That's the message from the complete state-by-state data taken from
long-form questionnaires. The statistics show that poverty rates
remained highest in rural towns in the South and Midwest and incomes
stagnated in urban counties in California and the Northeast.

The figures released Tuesday also showed many industrial suburbs
struggling as residents left to get farther from cities and closer to
new jobs in sprawling office parks.

A suburb of Denver, Douglas County, Colo., was the fastest-growing
county by population over the 1990s. The county's median household
income of $82,929, more than $40,000 over the median income for all U.S.
households, topped the nation in 1999.

"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 the thriving
suburb of Castle Rock, a part of Douglas County, in 1997. "The more
people there are, the more a business has a chance of surviving."

"It's pretty clear that, as always, growth occurred in places with the
most vibrant economies," said demographer Martha Farnsworth Riche, a
former head of the Census Bureau. "That is the character of our economy
-- people move where the jobs are."

National figures suggest that the prosperity before last year's
recession was enjoyed mostly by more affluent Americans, "modestly by
the middle class, and not very much by persons below the poverty line,"
said John Logan, a sociologist at the State University of New York at
Albany.

By Tuesday, all 50 states will have received their first wave of
detailed data from questions asked on the 2000 census long form, a
survey distributed to 20 million American households that 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 percentage of Americans living below poverty level decreased
slightly from 13.1 percent in 1989 to 12.4 percent in 1999, while the
median household income went up from an inflation-adjusted $39,008 to
$41,994 during the decade.

--The average one-way commuting time increased 3.1 minutes to 25.5
minutes. More people drove to work alone, and fewer people carpooled or
took public transportation.

--Nearly one in four Americans age 25 and older have at least a college
education, up from one in five in 1990.

The figures reaffirmed that better educated people typically make more
money. In Forsyth County, Ga., a booming suburb of Atlanta, the median
household income increased by over $21,000 to nearly $68,890 after
accounting for inflation. Eighty-six percent of residents there have a
high school diploma, and 35 percent are college graduates.

Meanwhile, more than half of the residents in rural Buffalo and Shannon
counties in South Dakota lived below poverty level -- the highest rates
in the nation.

In 1999 the poverty threshold for a family of four, including three
children, was $16,954.

Counties were poverty rates went up included the Queens borough of New
York City (11 percent to 15 percent) and Los Angeles County in
California (15 percent to 18 percent).

In Shannon County, S.D., the poverty rate decreased from 63 percent in
1989 to 52 percent in 1999. There, 17 percent of residents older than
age 15 were unemployed, and 12 percent of residents 25 and older were
college graduates.

"Everyone says they are going to move. There are no jobs that can
support their family," said Patricia Perkins of Wounded Knee, S.D. She
is a disabled veteran who helps run an outreach program on the Pine
Ridge Indian Reservation in Shannon County.

"Some of them do (leave), but others, because of prejudice in
neighboring towns, end up coming back," she said.

Logan, in his own analysis of the data, said New York and Los Angeles
lagged behind other metropolitan areas in economic growth, with median
income declining more than $3,000.

The biggest improvement came in urban centers in the South and Midwest,
especially Detroit. "Even Detroit's central city improved dramatically,
though it still suffers from high poverty and unemployment," Logan said.

------

Highlights from national-level Census 2000 data released Tuesday by the
Census Bureau. Poverty rates and median household income figures for
each census are from the previous calendar year. The 1990 census income
figure is adjusted to account for inflation.

Subject 1990 2000

Workers over age 15:

Percent who drove to work alone 73.2 75.7
Mean travel time, in minutes, to work (one way) 22.4 25.5
Median household income (all households) $39,008 $41,994
Percent of single-mother homes with related 42.3 34.3
kids under 18 living below poverty level
Percent of all residents living in poverty 13.1 12.4

Residents over age 24:

Percent high school graduate or higher 75.2 80.4
Percent college graduate or higher 20.3 24.4

Residents over age 14:

Separated 2.3 2.2
Divorced 8.5 9.7
Percent of total population that is foreign-born 7.9 11.1

Residents over age 4:

Speak only English at home 86.2 82.1
Speak Spanish at home 7.5 10.7
Percent of all housing units lacking 0.8 0.6
"complete plumbing facilities"

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

------

The median household income, and the percentage of people in each state
living below poverty level in 1999 and 1989, according to the 2000 and
1990 censuses. Income and poverty are measured in each census based on
the previous calendar year. Also, 1989 figures are adjusted for
inflation and reflect worth in 1999 dollars.

State Inc99 Inc89 Pov99 Pov89

Ala. $34,135 $30,626 16.1 18.3
Alaska $51,571 $53,742 9.4 9.0
Ariz. $40,558 $35,743 13.9 15.7
Ark. $32,182 $27,446 15.8 19.1
Calif. $47,493 $46,461 14.2 12.5
Colo. $47,203 $39,118 9.3 11.7
Conn. $53,935 $54,148 7.9 6.8
Del. $47,381 $45,263 9.2 8.7
D.C. $40,127 $39,879 20.2 16.9
Fla. $38,819 $35,669 12.5 12.7
Ga. $42,433 $37,665 13.0 14.7
Hawaii $49,820 $50,395 10.7 8.3
Idaho $37,572 $32,780 11.8 13.3
Ill. $46,590 $41,859 10.7 11.9
Ind. $41,567 $37,375 9.5 10.7
Iowa $39,469 $34,042 9.1 11.5
Kan. $40,624 $35,420 9.9 11.5
Ky. $33,672 $29,246 15.8 19.0
La. $32,566 $28,487 19.6 23.6
Maine $37,240 $36,151 10.9 10.8
Md. $52,868 $51,118 8.5 8.3
Mass. $50,502 $47,959 9.3 8.9
Mich. $44,667 $40,260 10.5 13.1
Minn. $47,111 $40,116 7.9 10.2
Miss. $31,330 $26,134 19.9 25.2
Mo. $37,934 $34,214 11.7 13.3
Mont. $33,024 $29,835 14.6 16.1
Neb. $39,250 $33,765 9.7 11.1
Nev. $44,581 $40,248 10.5 10.2
N.H. $49,467 $47,150 6.5 6.4
N.J. $55,146 $53,118 8.5 7.6
N.M. $34,133 $31,262 18.4 20.6
N.Y. $43,393 $42,784 14.6 13.0
N.C. $39,184 $34,584 12.3 13.0
N.D. $34,604 $30,127 11.9 14.4
Ohio $40,956 $37,256 10.6 12.5
Okla. $33,400 $30,600 14.7 16.7
Ore. $40,916 $35,367 11.6 12.4
Pa. $40,106 $37,728 11.0 11.1
R.I. $42,090 $41,766 11.9 9.6
S.C. $37,082 $34,077 14.1 15.4
S.D. $35,282 $29,206 13.2 15.9
Tenn. $36,360 $32,196 13.5 15.7
Texas $39,927 $35,063 15.4 18.1
Utah $45,726 $38,248 9.4 11.4
Vt. $40,856 $38,666 9.4 9.9
Va. $46,677 $43,255 9.6 10.2
Wash. $45,776 $40,471 10.6 10.9
W.Va. $29,696 $26,989 17.9 19.7
Wis. $43,791 $38,212 8.7 10.7
Wyo. $37,892 $35,167 11.4 11.9
U.S. $41,994 $39,008 12.4 13.1

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.