The U.S. Census Bureau released today a portion of its American Community Survey data for the year 2007, which includes statistics on poverty, income and earnings across the nation.
As it has in previous years, the left-leaning Center on Policy Initiatives and the San Diego Institute for Policy Research will be publishing an analysis of the data as it relates to the county of San Diego in the next few days.
But while we wait for their insights and colorful charts, here are some comparisons between the Bureau’s 2006 and 2007 numbers:
We’re also going to try some color coding here in Survival to make it easier to read. Let’s see how it goes. Here’s the key: (red = increase) (green = decrease) (blue = same)
Poverty
- San Diego County’s poverty rate in 2007 was 11.1 percent (11.7 percent in 2006) , with 320,378 people below the poverty line (331,370 people in 2006) . Of those, 110,124 are children.
- Poverty Rates by San Diego cities breakdown:
- Carlsbad: 5.9 percent (6.0 percent last year)
- Oceanside: 7.8 percent (10.0 percent last year)
- Chula Vista: 9.1 percent (11.0 percent last year)
- San Diego City: 12.1 percent (13.4 percent last year)
- Escondido: 12.5 percent (13.5 percent last year)
- Vista: 14.1 percent (15.2 percent last year)
- San Marcos: 14.5 percent (13.1 percent last year)
- El Cajon: 20.6 percent (15.8 percent last year)
Nationally, the census ranked the city of San Diego as the fifth richest “place” with 250,000 people or more, with a median household income of $61,863. San Diego city also had the 10th lowest poverty-rate in the country last year, among places with 250,000 or more people: 12.1 percent.
Income
- Median Household Income in San Diego County: $61,794 ($59,591 in 2006)
Gini Index Scores (wealth inequality)
The Gini Index is a score between 0 and 1, 0 being a perfectly equitable distribution of wealth and 1 signifying that one person has all the income, and others have none of it.
- San Diego County: 0.451 (same as 2006)
- California: 0.469 (0.466 in 2006)
- United States: 0.467 (0.464 in 2006)
- San Diego County’s City Breakdown:
- Oceanside: 0.397 (0.402 last year)
- Chula Vista: 0.398 (0.397 last year)
- Vista: 0.401 (0.383 last year)
- El Cajon: 0.412 (0.437 last year)
- San Marcos: 0.423 (0.429 last year)
- Carlsbad: 0.433 (0.459 last year)
- Escondido: 0.444 (0.424 last year)
- San Diego City: 0.461 (0.456 last year)
Last year, CPI reported that “among the county’s 995,021 full-time, year-round workers, the average annual earnings were $55,700. There were 214,160 full-time workers who earned less than $25,000 a year.”
This year, of 958,582 full-time, year-round workers, the average annual earnings were $57,668. There were 208,012 full-time workers who earned less than $25,000 a year.