|
|
|
|
US Census Facts for Santa Cruz County - 2004 ·
27,059 Santa Cruz County residents have an income below the US
Poverty Guidelines ($18,850 for a family of four)[i] ·
The year 2000 percentage of County residents living in poverty was
11.9%,[ii] a 1.2% increase since
1990. The U.S. Census poverty estimate for 2003 was 11.2%[iii] ·
Poverty rates are highest for Hispanic/Latinos (18.7%) &
African Americans (22.8%) and lowest for Caucasians (8.4%)[iv] ·
Hispanic/Latino households with children under age 18 in Santa
Cruz County comprise 36% of those living at or below poverty[v] ·
Children constitute the highest poverty rate (19%) in Santa Cruz
County while seniors over 65 have the lowest rate (6.3%) of poverty[vi] ·
The percentage of Santa Cruz County youth living in poverty is
19.5%, and 22.8% of Latino youth live in poverty compared to 6.1% of white youth[vii] ·
People are leaving Santa
Cruz County. The population dropped by 4,018 between 2000 and 2003, possibly
because of high housing costs[viii] ·
Housing costs in Santa Cruz County are not only among the most
expensive, but are also among the least affordable in the nation[ix] ·
Last year, 51% of all county households paid half their income on
housing[x] ·
Of county residents earning less than $35,000, 70% pay half of
their income on housing[xi] ·
Two Santa Cruz County cities, Watsonville and Capitola, have
median household incomes, ($37,617 and $46,048 respectively) that are lower than
the rest of the state ($47,493)[xii]
·
Immigrants are the poorest category of county residents; and,
there are significant legal barriers that prevent their escape from poverty ·
Nearly half of all female-headed households with children in
Watsonville live in poverty[xiii] ·
There is a wide wage disparity in Santa Cruz County between men
and women: men earn $46,291 and
women earn $33,514 for comparable work[xiv] ·
Studies show that to be self-sufficient in Santa Cruz County, a
family of three needs an hourly wage between $21.84 - $28.51 per hour
(California’s minimum wage rate is $6.75 per hour)[xv]
[i] U.S. Census – American Community Survey, 2003 Data Profile Santa Cruz County - http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Products/Profiles/Single/2003/ACS/Tabular/050/05000US060873.htm [ii] U.S. Census, California QuickFacts, Santa Cruz 2000 - http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06087.html [iii] U.S. Census – American Community Survey, 2003 Data Profile Santa Cruz County - http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Products/Profiles/Single/2003/ACS/Tabular/050/05000US060873.htm [iv] Santa Cruz County Human Resources Agency, 2000 Census-Santa Cruz County - Poverty Profile By Race/Ethnicity, February 2004 [v] U.S. Census, American FactFinder - http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFPeople?_event=Search&geo_id=01000US&_geoContext=&_street=&_county=Santa+Cruz&_cityTown=&_state=04000US06&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on [vi] Ibid [vii] U.S. Census
Bureau, California Quickfacts, 2000, http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06087/html [viii] U.S. Census - GCT-T1-R. Population
Estimates (geographies ranked by estimate) [ix] Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County, Inc. Housing and Homelessness In Santa Cruz County, June 2003 - http://www.cabinc.org/Research/housing-and-homelessness-2003-report.htm [x] United Way of Santa Cruz County, Santa Cruz County Community Assessment Project- 2003, year 9 page 43-45 or http://www.appliedsurveyresearch.org/products/CAP9_Entire_Report.pdf page 59 -61 of 293 [xi] Ibid [xii] U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 Census Fact Sheets for Capitola, Watsonville and California - http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts?_sse=on [xiii] Ibid [xiv] Ibid [xv] National Economic Development and Law Center, Self-Sufficiency Standard for Santa Cruz County, CA 2003, http://www.nedlc.org/cfess/Santa%20Cruz.pdf Prepared by the Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County, Inc. October 1, 2004 For complete Census facts check out the Census Quick Facts web site. For More Information Contact: |
|
|