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Income and Poverty Information Staff
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Number of African Americans in Poverty Declines
While Income Rises, Census Bureau Reports
The number of poor African Americans in the nation decreased
significantly between 1996 and 1997, while their real median household
income improved, according to reports released today by the Commerce
Department's Census Bureau.
(The reports, Money Income in the United States: 1997 and Poverty in
the United States: 1997, are available on our web site at
<http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income97.html> for income, and
<http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/povty97.html> for poverty.)
"African Americans accounted for 60 percent of the decline in the
number of poor persons in America between 1996 and 1997," said Daniel
Weinberg, chief of the Census Bureau's Housing and Household Economic
Statistics Division. "Nationwide, about 400,000 fewer families were poor
in 1997 than in 1996, and more than half of them were African American
families."
The number of poor African Americans dropped from 9.7 million in 1996 to
9.1 million in 1997, while their poverty rate decreased from 28.4 percent
to 26.5 percent. For African American families, the number and
percentage in poverty fell from 2.2 million to 2.0 million and from 26.1
percent to 23.6 percent, respectively.
In 1997, the poverty rate of African American married-couple families;
female householder families with no husband present; and individuals was
lower than their 1989 pre-recessionary rate.
The poverty threshold for a family of four was $16,400 in annual
income in 1997 and $12,802 for a family of three.
African American households experienced an increase in real median
income of 4.3 percent between 1996 and 1997 from $24,021 to $25,050. Also,
in the past three years (1995-1997), median income levels of African
American households achieved or surpassed their 1989 pre-recessionary peak
level.
Other highlights:
Poverty
- In 1997, the number and poverty rate of African Americans was
9.1 million and 26.5 percent, compared with 24.4 million and
11.0 percent for Whites; 1.5 million and 14.0 percent for Asians
and Pacific Islanders; and 8.3 million and 27.1 percent for
Hispanics. The poverty rate for Hispanics did not differ
statistically from the rate for African Americans.
- For families, the number and percentage of poor in 1997 was
2.0 million and 23.6 percent for African Americans; 5.0 million and
8.4 percent for Whites; 244,000 and 10.2 percent for Asians
and Pacific Islanders; and 1.7 million and 24.7 percent for
Hispanics. The poverty rate for Hispanics did not differ
statistically from the rate for African Americans.
- African American families with a female householder, no husband
present, experienced a significant drop in both the number and
percentage of families who were poor: 1.6 million and 39.8 percent
in 1997, down from 1.7 million and 43.7 percent in 1996.
Income
- In 1997, African American households had a median income of $25,050,
lower than that of Asian and Pacific Islander households ($45,249),
White households ($38,972) and households maintained by a person of
Hispanic origin, who may be of any race, ($26,628).
- African American households had an average income per household
member of $11,998, based on an average household size of 2.75 people.
The average for White households was $20,093, with an average size
of 2.58 people; and the estimate for Asian and Pacific Islander
households was $18,569, with an average size of 3.17 people.
- The per capita income of African Americans was $12,351 in 1997,
compared with $20,425 for Whites, $18,226 for Asian and Pacific
Islanders, and $10,773 for Hispanics.
The data are from the March 1998 Current Population Survey. As in all
surveys, the data are subject to sampling variability and other sources of
error.
-X-The Census Bureau pre-eminent collector and provider of timely, relevant
and quality data about the people and economy of the United States. In
more than 100 surveys annually and 20 censuses a decade, evolving from the
first census in 1790, the Census Bureau provides official information
about America's people, businesses, industries and institutions.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
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Last Revised: April 12, 2001 at 08:05:25 AM
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