Definitions: Children under 18 living below the federal poverty threshold for the specified race category (i.e. white, African American, or "other") expressed as a percentage of all children in that race classification.
Data Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Census Bureau Website, www.census.gov, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates for 1998 and 2008, Released November, 2009 (data for all children below poverty in 1998 and 2008); and Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Population and Housing, Census Bureau Website, www.census.gov, Summary Tape File 3, Table P119 and Bureau of the Census, 2000 Census of Population, Census Bureau website, www.census.gov, Summary File 3, Table P87, Released 2002 (poverty data for children by race for 1989 and 1999).
The poverty threshold for a family of four (two adults and two related children under 18) was $16,530 in 1998 and $21,834 in 2008. Caution should be exercised in comparing poverty data from model-based estimates (as reported herein for 1998 and 2008) between counties, over time, and with decinnial census data (see Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, General Cautions about Comparisons of Estimates, Census Bureau Website, www. census.gov).
Note: Maps use the natural break classification method, which reflects patterns
in the data by dividing the map into naturally occurring groups. Using statistical tools, this method
determines cut-off points for each group by identifying large gaps in data values.