Personal tools

Your Central Puget Sound Information Source for Making Sustainable Choices

 
You are here:   Home → Social Environment → Children Living in Poverty
Document Actions

Indicator: Children Living in Poverty

Data and Data Discussion provided by Communities Count

Figure 1: Children in Poverty

view full size
Upstream Indicators

There are currently no published Upstream Indicators.

Downstream Indicators
  •   Adequate Food --- Compared to 2003, fewer adults (6.8% of the population) in 2007 reported that household food money often or sometimes did not last. Fewer people in East Region said their household food money often or sometimes did not last compared to Seattle, South Region or King County as a whole.  (view data graph)
more info
Related Goals

Sustainability Snapshot:

Growing up in poverty greatly increases the probability that a child will be exposed to environments and experiences that pose developmental threats. Poverty during early childhood may be more damaging than poverty experienced at later ages, particularly for academic achievement. Poverty both in the family and in the surrounding neighborhood, which affects minority children to a much greater extent, imposes a double risk.

Sustainability Trend:

From 1999 to 2007, the percentage of King County's children living in poverty increased from 9.9% to 14.3%.

Data Discussion

The Indicator Defined

Percent and Number of Children Age 0-17 Living Below 100% of Federal Poverty Level, King County.

Data Interpretation/Evaluation

The federal poverty level is a threshold income limit that varies according to family size and composition and is adjusted each year. All persons living in a household with a total annual income below that threshold dollar amount are counted in the 100% poverty statistics. For a family of 4, the 100% poverty level income in 2004 was $19,300. From 1999 to 2007, the percentage of the King County population living in poverty increased from 8.4% to 9.9%.
In 2007, the percentage of King County’s children living in poverty increased from 9.9% to 14.3%. This represents more than 56,000 children.

Data Source and Limitations

Data was contributed by Communities Count (www.communitiescount.org).  The original income and poverty data for 1979, 1989 and 1999 are from the 1980, 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census respectively.  For these data, the geographic boundaries of King County and the four subregions are defined by aggregating census tracts. Income and poverty data for 2004 are from the 2004 American Community Survey data. These survey data are from a sample and therefore are subject to error. At the time of publication the 2004 data were not available by region, or by race and ethnicity.

collapse all

Additional Resources

  • Washington Child Hunger Facts
    This 2007 fact sheet from Northwest Harvest lists statistics from the number of children living in poverty, to the number of participants in school breakfast programs, to the number of women and children served by the state's WIC program.