I'm trying to find out how many women there are in Oregon between ages 19 and 29, living within 185% of the Federal poverty rate.
librarian: Hello, I'm Erin, a librarian in Hillsboro, OR.
librarian: I'm reading your question right now, it might take me a minute or two...
librarian: Anonymous?
anonymous: just having trouble picking apart census info so i can isolate by gender/age/income
librarian: OK. I need to know what you know so far so I know where to start.
librarian: Do you already have the federal definition of poverty as a baseline?
anonymous: Just have the info about Oregon's overall population, and percentage that are female
anonymous: but no breakdown of that by age, and definitely not by poverty level
anonymous: The federal definiton of poverty is tricky because it changes based on household size
librarian: OK. I suspect it may be hard to tease out 185% of poverty because poverty level changes based on the number of people in the household.
librarian: Right. :)
librarian: Have you seen this page?
anonymous: even if we can get to the 19-29 year old women statistic, and then maybe the %age of Oregonians overall living under 185% of Federal poverty, I can extrapolate
librarian: OK, let me see if we can get that data. I'm a little rusty on census stuff so just hold on for a minute or two, OK?
anonymous: no problem!
librarian: I think I'm having a little trouble loading some of the data sets.
librarian: but I can't seem to get any numbers. Can you?
librarian: P12
anonymous: loading the pages now
anonymous: yes, I'm having the same problem you are.
anonymous: Click on the category and the chart has no numbers
librarian: Argh. OK. That's the same problem I'm having.
librarian: OK, let me see fi I can find it anothe rway.
librarian: OK, still working on age/sex, but here is income.
librarian: INCOME IN 1999
Households
1,335,109
100.0
Less than $10,000
115,129
8.6
$10,000 to $14,999
86,695
6.5
$15,000 to $24,999
179,053
13.4
$25,000 to $34,999
185,595
13.9
$35,000 to $49,999
236,282
17.7
$50,000 to $74,999
269,492
20.2
$75,000 to $99,999
129,488
9.7
$100,000 to $149,999
87,218
6.5
$150,000 to $199,999
22,650
1.7
$200,000 or more
23,507
1.8
Median household income (dollars)
40,916
(X)
With earnings
1,071,158
80.2
Mean earnings (dollars)
51,450
(X)
With Social Security income
344,689
25.8
Mean Social Security income (dollars)
11,815
(X)
With Supplemental Security Income
46,878
3.5
Mean Supplemental Security Income (dollars)
6,534
(X)
With public assistance income
47,402
3.6
Mean public assistance income (dollars)
2,697
(X)
With retirement income
229,129
17.2
Mean retirement income (dollars)
17,269
(X)
Families
884,875
100.0
Less than $10,000
43,067
4.9
$10,000 to $14,999
36,777
4.2
$15,000 to $24,999
96,173
10.9
$25,000 to $34,999
114,823
13.0
$35,000 to $49,999
164,346
18.6
$50,000 to $74,999
209,570
23.7
$75,000 to $99,999
106,977
12.1
$100,000 to $149,999
73,550
8.3
$150,000 to $199,999
19,594
2.2
$200,000 or more
19,998
2.3
Median family income (dollars)
48,680
(X)
Per capita income (dollars)
20,940
(X)
Median earnings (dollars):
Male full-time, year-round workers
36,588
(X)
Female full-time, year-round workers
26,980
(X)
POVERTY STATUS IN 1999 (below poverty level)
Families
70,032
(X)
Percent below poverty level
(X)
7.9
With related children under 18 years
54,931
(X)
Percent below poverty level
(X)
12.4
With related children under 5 years
28,794
(X)
Percent below poverty level
(X)
16.6
Families with female householder, no husband present
32,276
(X)
Percent below poverty level
(X)
25.9
With related children under 18 years
29,589
(X)
Percent below poverty level
(X)
33.3
With related children under 5 years
14,730
(X)
Percent below poverty level
(X)
47.4
Individuals
388,740
(X)
Percent below poverty level
(X)
11.6
18 years and over
267,280
(X)
Percent below poverty level
(X)
10.6
65 years and over
32,120
(X)
Percent below poverty level
(X)
7.6
Related children under 18 years
114,777
(X)
Percent below poverty level
(X)
14.0
Related children 5 to 17 years
76,985
(X)
Percent below poverty level
(X)
12.8
Unrelated individuals 15 years and over
155,661
(X)
Percent below poverty level
(X)
23.1
librarian: (First number is number/count, second is percent)
librarian: Maybe you can see the table as I see it:
anonymous: I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by all those numbers . . . is there a 'bottom line' on age/gender/poverty, or even on 2 of the 3 and then we can estimate/extrapolate for the third
librarian: I don't know if there's an easy bottom line
librarian: Statistics can be tricky
librarian: And I'm not sure if I am comfortable about interpreting statistics for you, though I'm happy to continue helping you find them.
librarian: I'm stlll working on age/sex
librarian: Hey, I found age/sex!
librarian: OK, are you ready? (I'll send you the link to the Excel file in a moment)
librarian: 15-19 116.269
librarian: 20-24 122,522
librarian: 25-29 114,127
anonymous: so that's JUST women in those age groups?
librarian: Yes, that's WOMEN only.
librarian: Now since you need 185% of poverty, and not poverty itself, you need to look at income statistics
librarian: No, sorry, that won't get you what you need, I'll try looking again.
anonymous: so for age 19-29, the female population in Oregon is approximately 260,000
librarian: Yes.
librarian: Or at least it's a little bit more than 237,000
librarian: Since they only give it broken out definitely 20-29
anonymous: I divided the 15-19 by 5, and added in.
librarian: And 19-year-olds are grouped...
anonymous: all about the estimates!
librarian: yeah, that's probably all you can do
librarian: the best you can do, I mean.
librarian: Man, it's challenging wading through all this data!
librarian: I'm trying to find income by age, sex, and state and so far not having much luck.
anonymous: or if there is just data on 185% for the whole state (that's the qualifying level for many federal and state programs, so it may be readily available), then we can figure it against the 260K.
anonymous: you know, X% of Oregonians TOTAL living at 185%, then we can take X and multiply against our 260,000
librarian: Yes, I see that's the WIC standard.
librarian: "Total People Living Below 185% of Federal Poverty Level: 1,046,696"
anonymous: ok, so now if we can figure out Oregon's total population, we can figure out the %age that 1,046, 696 represents
librarian: You might find more relevant data by searching for poverty in oregon than by trying to interpret straight census data
librarian: Anonymous, does any of this help?
anonymous: yes, thanks
anonymous: I may be able to take it from here. but don't close the chat window, so I don't lose what you've shared ; )
librarian: OK, I can leave it open for now (though you should also get a transcript when I do close this out).
anonymous: oh, great.
anonymous: my estimated number, btw, is 73,000.
librarian: Wow.
anonymous: Thanks for all the help, and I will treasure the transcript.
anonymous: Yes, wow. It's not great news, is it?
librarian: OK. and if you need any more help, you can respond to the transcript email.
librarian: No, it's not great news.
anonymous: And that data are 2007.
anonymous: I bet it's higher now.
anonymous: Unfortunately!
librarian: Yes, the current economy is not good.
anonymous: Thanks for your help, Librarian.
librarian: OK, Anonymous, good luck!
