MCDC News and Updates

Map of the Month

Missouri Commuters and Means of Transportation

Posted on by glenn

In April 2015, the U.S. Census Bureau released an infographic comparing the use of alternative transportation across the country. The data, based on the 2013 American Housing Survey, divided the US into four regions — West, Midwest, South, and Northeast — and examined the use of public transportation (buses, commuter trains, subway trains, or commuter vans) by household. Of the four regions, Northeast households recorded the highest use of public transportation at 32%. The Midwest, which includes the state of Missouri, was ranked third of the four regions, with only 12% of households reporting some use of public transportation. In all four regions, local public buses were overwhelmingly the most frequently used type of public transportation.

Commuters and means of transportation in Missouri

The results of these studies are interesting to see on paper, but may not be that surprising to Missouri residents. Being a large, mostly rural state, Missouri simply does not have the same potential for the use of public transportation networks that the smaller, more urbanized states of the Northeast do. That said, not all Missouri commuters drive to work by themselves in their own car or truck. According to the 2009-2013 American Community Survey 5-year estimate of Means of Transportation to Work By Selected Characteristics table (S0802), although the majority of Missourians do drive themselves to work, that behavior tops out only at 87%, and only in two counties — New Madrid and St. Charles. Of the estimated 142,895 commuters in St Louis city, on the other hand, only 71% were believed to drive themselves to work. The lowest rate of commuters driving themselves to work in Missouri was estimated (perhaps unsurprisingly) to be in Pulaski County, at a mere 54%.

Map of the Month

Hospital Availability and Uninsured Population in Missouri

Posted on by glenn

In March 2015, the U.S. Census released the 2013 data collected by the Small Area Health Insurance Estimates Program (SAHIE). The SAHIE data is a valuable reference that provides annual estimates of health insurance coverage for every county in the United States. The 2013 SAHIE data is of particular interest, as that was the last round collected before the first enrollment period of the Affordable Care Act.

Hospital availability and estimated uninsured population in Missouri, 2013

Based on the SAHIE 2013 county-level data, the percentage of uninsured working adults aged 18-64 in Missouri ranged from a low of 11.6% in St. Charles County to a high of 29% in Knox County. This information is interesting in and of itself, as it indicates that no Missouri county had an uninsured working population of 10% or less. When combined with the locations of Missouri hospitals, though, the SAHIE data presents an important lesson.

According to the Missouri Hospital Profiles By Name list, maintained by the Missouri Dept of Health and Senior Services, 41 Missouri counties do not have a hospital within their administrative boundaries. Combining that information with the SAHIE’s estimates reveals that 15 of those counties — Benton, Carter, Daviess, Douglas, Hickory, Knox, McDonald, Morgan, Oregon, Ozark, Schuyler, Shannon, Stone, Webster, and Wright — had uninsured populations between 25.1% and 29% in 2013. Although the list of hospitals does not include smaller facilities (such as rural clinics), this overlap does strongly suggest that some of Missouri’s most medically underserved counties were also home to very high numbers of uninsured working adults.

Reference: U.S. Census report on 2013 SAHIE

Map of the Month

Internet Use and Availability in Missouri

Posted on by glenn

A report published by the U.S. Census Bureau in November 2014, based on the 2013 American Community Survey (ACS), indicated that only 75.6% of Missourians live in households with high-speed Internet use. This figure puts Missouri slightly below the national average of 78.1% and ranks the state fourteenth lowest in high-speed Internet adoption. Additionally, when examining high-speed Internet use within metropolitan areas, several Missouri cities exhibited adoption rates well below the national average of 78.1%. These include St Joseph, Cape Girardeau, Springfield, Joplin, and Jefferson City, which all had adoption rates of less than 73%.

High-speed Internet use vs. availability in Missouri

Although there is no reason to doubt the numbers from the US Census Bureau, it does paint a somewhat incomplete picture of the current state of high-speed internet availability in Missouri. The report focuses on the at-home use of high-speed Internet, rather than availability. This is an important distinction since, based on multiple years of data collection for Missouri’s State Broadband Initiative, evidence suggests that most, if not all, Missourians do have access to high-speed connections from multiple wired and wireless providers.

Reference:  U.S. Census Report on High-Speed Internet Use

 

New Census Estimates Compare School-Age Child Poverty to Prerecession Levels

Posted on by glenn

According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released this week, the poverty rate for school-age children increased in 928 U.S. counties between 2007 and 2013. Fifteen counties showed a decline in poverty rate over the same period, and there was no statistical change in 2,199 counties.

Percent change in poverty rate 2007-2013 for children ages 5-17, by county

The findings also show there were large concentrations in the South and West of the 972 counties with poverty rates statistically above the national average of 20.8% for school-age children. For example, in New Mexico and Mississippi, more than 80% of counties had poverty rates statistically greater than the national rate. Across the nation, 15% of school districts had poverty rates greater than 30% for school-age children.

Conversely, 902 counties had poverty rates for school-age children that were statistically lower than the national rate. In five states, 80% of counties had rates lower than the national rate: Connecticut, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, and Wyoming.

Poverty rate of children ages 5-17, by county, 2013

The statistics are from the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) program, which provides the only up-to-date, single-year income and poverty statistics for all counties and school districts — roughly 3,140 counties and nearly 14,000 school districts nationally. Data from the American Community Survey are an important input to these estimates.

The official poverty statistics for the nation were released in the fall of 2014, showing a decline in the poverty rate for children under age 18 from the previous year for the first time since 2000.

About the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates

The Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates program provides statistics on the total number of people in poverty, the number of children younger than age 5 in poverty (for states only), the number of children ages 5–17 in families in poverty, the number younger than age 18 in poverty, and median household income. At the school district level, estimates are available for the total population, the number of children ages 5–17 and the number of children ages 5–17 in families in poverty. The estimates combine the latest data from the American Community Survey with aggregate data from federal tax records, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, decennial censuses, and the Population Estimates Program.

This release also includes 2013 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE): An Overview, which presents income and poverty trends and explains the sources and approach.

Statistics from the SAIPE program are an input to the allocation formula for Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which observes its 50th anniversary in April 2015. Title I distributes funding to school districts based on the number and percentage of low-income children. The U.S. Department of Education will use the 2013 estimates to allocate fiscal year 2015 funds for Title I and other Department of Education programs to states and school districts for use primarily in the 2015-2016 school year.

ACS Report

Nearly 8 in 10 Americans Have Access to High-Speed Internet

Posted on by glenn

An estimated 78.1% of people in U.S. households had a high-speed Internet connection last year, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau. However, digital divides exist among the nation’s metropolitan areas and demographic groups.

These statistics come from the American Community Survey, which collected data on this topic for the first time in 2013 and is the largest survey used to examine computer and Internet use in the U.S.

Although most Americans have access to computers and high-speed Internet, differences in high-speed Internet use were as large as 25% between certain age and race groups, and divides between specific income and educational attainment groups were as large as 45%. In addition, among the nation’s metro areas, Boulder, Colo., had one of the highest rates of high-speed Internet use at 96.9%, whereas Laredo, Texas, had one of the lowest rates at 69.3%.

The report released in November 2014, Computer and Internet Use in the United States: 2013, includes analysis of household computer ownership and Internet use by age, sex, race and Hispanic origin, income, and education. It covers areas of the country with populations larger than 65,000.

State rankings with percentage of people with high-speed Internet

Metropolitan Areas

The report shows that 75.2% of metropolitan area households reported high-speed Internet use, compared with 63.1% of nonmetropolitan households. In addition, 85.1% of metropolitan households reported owning a computer, compared with 76.5% of nonmetro households.

Some states, such as California, Florida and Washington, had a variety of high- and low-performing areas within their borders — often very near one another. For example, the San Francisco Bay Area of California (including Napa, San Francisco, and San Jose) had high percentages of computer ownership and high-speed Internet use, whereas metropolitan areas in the nearby Central Valley (including Bakersfield, Fresno, and Hanford) had significantly lower estimates on both indicators.

Demographics of Computer and Internet Users

Computer ownership and Internet use were most common in the following types of households:

  • Homes with relatively young householders: 92.5% of homes with a householder age 35–44 reported owning a computer, while 82.5% reported Internet use.
  • In Asian households and white non-Hispanic households: 86.6% of Asian households and 77.4% of white households reported Internet use.
  • In households with high incomes: 98.1% of households making $150,000 or more had a computer, while 94.9% reported Internet use.
  • Householders with high educational attainment: 95.5% of homes with a householder with at least a bachelor’s degree had a computer, while 90.1% reported Internet use.

Connection Type and Access Device

  • The most common household connection type was cable modem (42.8%), followed by mobile broadband (33.1%) and digital subscriber line (DSL) (21.2%).
  • About a quarter of all households had no paid Internet subscription (25.6%).
  • Only 1.0% of all households reported connecting to the Internet using only a dial-up connection.
  • The most common household computer ownership was a desktop or laptop. 63.6% reported a hand-held computer (smartphone or other hand-held wireless computer).

In addition to the report, a series of detailed and profile tables about computer ownership and Internet use are available on the Census Bureau’s website at census.gov. As part of the 2008 Broadband Data Improvement Act, Congress mandated that the Census Bureau begin asking about computer and Internet use in the American Community Survey. Federal agencies will use these statistics to measure the nationwide development of broadband networks and to allocate resources intended to increase access to broadband technologies, particularly among groups with traditionally low levels of access. State and local governments will use these statistics for similar purposes, and businesses and nonprofits will use the information to better serve their communities.

Census Report

10% of Grandparents Live with a Grandchild

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Of the 65 million grandparents in the United States in 2012, nearly seven million (10%) lived with at least one grandchild, according to Coresident Grandparents and Their Grandchildren: 2012, a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau.

About 4.2 million households (3% of all households) contained both grandchildren under 18 and their grandparents in 2012. More than 60% of these households were maintained by a grandparent and about one in three had no parent present.

In 2012, 2.7 million grandparents in the U.S. were raising their grandchildren. About 39% of these grandparent caregivers have cared for their grandchildren for five years or more.

The new report uses data from the 2010 Census, the American Community Survey, the Current Population Survey, and the Survey of Income and Program Participation to examine historical changes in coresidence of grandparents and characteristics of grandparents and grandchildren who live together.

Other findings:

  • Grandparents who lived with a grandchild in 2012 were younger, had lower levels of education and were more likely to be in poverty than those who did not live with a grandchild.
  • Two percent of grandparents who lived with a grandchild were age 30–39, whereas the highest percentage was for those age 50–59 (34%). Those age 80 and over made up only 4%.
  • Women comprised 64.2% of grandparents who lived with their grandchildren.
  • Forty-nine percent of children in grandparent-maintained households lived with both grandparents compared with only 19% of children in parent-maintained households.
  • Since 2007, about one-third of children who lived with a grandparent also had two parents present.

Census Report

Poverty Rate Declines, Number of Poor Unchanged

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The nation’s poverty rate was 15.5% in 2013, down from 16.0% in 2012, according to the supplemental poverty measure released October 16 by the U.S. Census Bureau. The 2013 rate was higher than the official measure of 14.5%, but similarly declined from the corresponding rate in 2012.

Meanwhile, 48.7 million were below the poverty line in 2013 — not statistically different from the number in 2012. In 2013, 45.3 million were poor, using the official definition released in Sept. 2014 in Income and Poverty in the United States: 2013.

These findings are contained in the Census Bureau report The Supplemental Poverty Measure: 2013, released with support from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and describing research showing different ways of measuring poverty in the United States.

The supplemental poverty measure is an effort to take into account many of the government programs designed to assist low-income families and individuals that were not included in the current official poverty measure, released Sept. 16.

While the official poverty measure includes only pretax money income, the supplemental measure adds the value of in-kind benefits, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, school lunches, housing assistance, and refundable tax credits. Additionally, the supplemental poverty measure deducts necessary expenses for critical goods and services from income. Expenses that are deducted include taxes, child care and commuting expenses, out-of-pocket medical expenses, and child support paid to another household.

Estimates for States

The differences between the official and supplemental poverty measures varied considerably by state. The supplemental rates were higher than the official statewide poverty rates in the District of Columbia and 13 states: Alaska, California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia.

For another 26 states, supplemental rates were lower than the official statewide poverty rates. The states were Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Rates in the remaining 11 states were not statistically different using the two measures.

 

New American Community Survey Data Released for 2013

Posted on by glenn

The 2013 American Community Survey (ACS), released today in its one-year version, provides a multitude of statistics that measure the social, economic and housing conditions of U.S. states, counties, and communities. More than 40 topics are available with today’s release, such as educational attainment, housing, employment, commuting, language spoken at home, nativity, ancestry and selected monthly homeowner costs.

The ACS gives communities the current information they need to plan investments and services. Retailers, homebuilders, police departments, and town and city planners are among the many private- and public-sector decision makers who count on these annual results.

“The American Community Survey is our country’s only source of small area estimates for social and demographic characteristics,” Census Bureau Director John H. Thompson said. “As such, it is indispensable to our economic competitiveness and used by businesses, local governments and anyone in need of trusted, timely, detailed data.”

Also released today are two reports providing analysis on income and poverty for states and large metropolitan areas. The ACS three- and five-year data for 2013 will be released in October and December of this year, respectively.

Following are some highlights of the new ACS 2013 one-year release and related reports.

Income

  • For 2013, median household incomes were lower than the U.S. median ($52,250) in 28 states and higher in 19 states and D.C. (Three states did not have a statistically significant difference from the U.S. as a whole.)
  • In 2013, the states with the highest median household incomes were Maryland ($72,483) and Alaska ($72,237). Mississippi had the lowest ($37,963).
  • Median household income among the 25 most populous metro areas was highest in the Washington, D.C. ($90,149), San Francisco ($79,624), and Boston ($72,907) metro areas.

Income Inequality

Household Income: 2013 examined the Gini index for states and large metro areas. The Gini index is a summary measure of income inequality, ranging from 0 (complete equality) to 1 (complete inequality). Among the findings:

  • Five states and D.C. had Gini indexes higher than the U.S. index of .481; 36 states had lower Gini indexes than the U.S.
  • The Gini index of 15 states increased from 2012 to 2013. Alaska was the only state to have a decrease. All other states saw no significant change.
  • The highest Gini index was in the District of Columbia (0.532). Alaska’s (0.408) was among the lowest.

Poverty

  • Two states — New Hampshire and Wyoming — saw a decline in both the number and percentage of people in poverty. New Hampshire’s poverty rate declined from 10% in 2012 to 8.7% in 2013. Wyoming’s rate declined from 12.6% to 10.9%.
  • Three states saw increases in both the number and percentage of people in poverty between 2012 and 2013. New Jersey’s poverty rate increased from 10.8% in 2012 to 11.4% in 2013; New Mexico increased from 20.8% to 21.9%, and Washington increased from 13.5% to 14.1%.
  • In 2013, Mississippi had the highest poverty rate among states (24%), followed by New Mexico (21.9%). Both states also had the highest percentage of the population below 125% of the poverty level: 30.3% in Mississippi and 28.3% in New Mexico. About one in 10 people in both states had incomes less than 50% of the poverty level.
  • Among large metropolitan areas, one of the lowest proportions of people with incomes less than 50% of the poverty level in 2013 was 4.2% in the Washington, D.C., metro area, while one of the highest proportions was 8.4% in the Phoenix metro area.

Health Insurance

  • Between 2012 and 2013, 13 states and Puerto Rico saw a statistically significant increase in the percentage of civilians covered by health insurance. Two states (Maine and New Jersey) saw a decrease.
  • Among people whose incomes were below 138% of the poverty threshold, 25.6% were uninsured in 2013. (Under the Affordable Care Act, states have the option of expanding Medicaid eligibility to those with incomes at or below 138% of the poverty threshold.) Among people whose incomes were at or above 200% of the poverty threshold, 9.2% were uninsured in 2013.
  • Among the top 25 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, the uninsured rates were highest in Miami (24.8%), Houston (22.8%), and Dallas (21.5%) and lowest in Boston (4.2%), Pittsburgh (7.5%), Minneapolis (8.1%), and Baltimore (8.7%).
  • Among the top 25 large metropolitan areas, Tampa, Detroit, and Riverside, Calif., had public coverage rates of 33% or higher.

Computer and Internet Access

The 2013 American Community Survey included new questions to produce statistics on computer and Internet access. Mandated by the 2008 Broadband Data Improvement Act, the data will help the Federal Communications Commission measure broadband access nationwide. The data will also help identify communities eligible for available grants to expand access.

Some findings: 83.8% of the nation’s households have a computer (either desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone). 74.4% have some form of Internet access at home. The Census Bureau is releasing a more detailed report on the new findings in early October.

Census Report

Gap Between Higher- and Lower-Wealth Households Widens

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Median net worth increased between 2000 and 2011 for households in the top two quintiles of the net worth distribution — the wealthiest 40% of households — while declining for those in the lower three quintiles, according to statistics released recently by the U.S. Census Bureau. (Each quintile represents 20%, or one fifth, of all households.) The result: A widening wealth gap between those at the top and those in the middle and bottom of the net worth distribution.

Median household net worth by quintile, 2000-2011

According to the report, Distribution of Household Wealth in the U.S.: 2000 to 2011, median household net worth decreased by $5,124 for households in the lowest-net-worth quintile and increased by $61,379 (10.8%) for those in the highest quintile. Median net worth of households in the highest quintile was 39.8 times higher than the second lowest quintile in 2000, and it rose to 86.8 times higher in 2011.

The report also details a widening of the wealth gap for households sharing the same demographic characteristics, such as age, race and Hispanic origin, and educational attainment of the householder. For example, the median net worth for non-Hispanic whites in the highest quintile was 21.8 times higher than for those in the second-lowest quintile in 2000; in 2011, this had increased to 31.5 times higher. For blacks, the ratio increased from 139.9 to 328.1, and for Hispanics, the increase was from 158.4 to 220.9.

Between 2000 and 2011, the wealth gap has also widened between groups with different demographic characteristics. For example, the ratio of median net worth of non-Hispanic whites to that of blacks rose from 10.6 to 17.5 between 2000 and 2011, and the ratio of non-Hispanic whites to Hispanics also increased from 8.1 to 14.4.

“However, when looking at the highest quintile for these groups, we see that blacks experienced higher relative increases in median net worth than non-Hispanic whites and Hispanics,” Census Bureau economist Marina Vornovitsky said. For blacks in the highest quintile, median net worth increased by 62.8%, to $229,041; for Hispanics in the highest quintile, it increased by 17.9% to $250,462, and for non-Hispanic whites in the highest quintile, it rose by 11.9% to $754,244.

The Distribution of Household Net Worth and Debt in the U.S. detailed table packages were released for 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010 and 2011, the years for which data were collected.

Census Report

State of the Nation’s Senior Population

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A recent report by the U.S. Census Bureau provides a comprehensive look at the nation’s 40+ million persons aged 65 and older.

The 192-page report, 65+ in the United States: 2010, contains many findings about the senior population on topics such as socioeconomic characteristics, size and growth, geographic distribution, and longevity and health. The report incorporates research from many recent studies that draw heavily from the 2010 Census and nationally representative surveys, such as the Current Population Survey, American Community Survey, and National Health Interview Survey.

Percent seniors in labor force, 2009-2011

Some highlights of the report:

  • Size and growth: In 2010, there were 40.3 million people in the U.S. aged 65 and older — 12 times the number in 1900. Eleven states had more than one million people 65 and older in 2010.
  • Geographic distribution: Florida was among the states with the highest proportions of older people in their populations in 2010, along with West Virginia, Maine, and Pennsylvania (all above 15%). The West and South regions experienced the fastest growth in their 65+ and 85+ populations between 2000 and 2010. Sumter county, Florida — home to a large retirement community — had the nation’s highest median age among all U.S. counties in 2013, at 65.5 years.
  • Elder care: The number of Americans 65+ living in a nursing home fell 20% between 2000 and 2010, from 1.6 million to 1.3 million. Meanwhile, the share in other care settings has been growing. (Economic statistics from the Census Bureau’s 2012 County Business Patterns also show changes in health care-related industries. For example, the number of employees in long-term care facilities grew by about 12% between 2007 and 2012.)
  • Labor force participation: Major retirement destinations, such as Arizona and Florida, had lower 65+ labor force participation rates compared with Midwest states, such as Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, where a higher share of the older population was still part of the workforce. “In the United States, older men and women are increasingly participating in the labor force,” said Enrique Lamas, the Census Bureau’s associate director for demographic programs.
  • Home ownership: Following 2006 and the peak in housing prices, home ownership rates remained stable for older householders at 81% in 2011, compared with the under-65 population who experienced declines.
  • Employment: Many older workers remained employed during the 2007-2009 recession. 16.2% of the 65+ population were employed in 2010, up from 14.5% in 2005. (By contrast, 60.3% of the 20–24 age group were employed in 2010, down from 68% in 2005.)
  • Internet usage: Between 2000 and 2010, Internet usage for the 65+ population increased from 14.3% to 44.8%.

Percent change in senior population, 2000-2010

Senior poverty, 2010

The Division of Behavioral and Social Research at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) commissioned this report and has also supported three earlier editions, the first published in 1993. “This report series uniquely combines Census Bureau and other federal statistics with findings from NIA-supported studies on aging,” said Richard Suzman, director of the Division of Behavioral and Social Research at NIA. “The collaboration with Census has been of great value in developing social, economic and demographic statistics on our aging population with this edition highlighting an approaching crisis in caregiving — since the baby boomers had fewer children compared to their parents.”