Census: Native Americans among poorest

SEPTEMBER 27, 2000

Poverty in the United States is at its lowest in 20 years but American Indians and Alaska Natives are still among the poorest in the country, said the US Census Bureau on Tuesday.

However, the poverty rates of Native Americans over a three-year period differed little from African-Americans and Hispanics. From 1997 to 1999, an average of 25.9 percent, or 700,000 Native Americans, lived in poverty.

For the same time period, about 25.4 percent of African-Americans lived in poverty as did 25.1 percent of Hispanics. Only the poverty rate of Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders was dramatically different, with 12.4 percent living below poverty from 1997 to 1999.

But overall, poverty in America is down. The national poverty rate dropped from 12.7 percent in 1998 to 11.8 percent in 1999, representing the lowest rate reported since 1979.

The poverty rate is defined by what is called an average poverty threshold. In 1999, that amount was $17,029 for a family of four, and $13,290 for a family of three.

The Census Bureau also reported a rise in median income. In 1999, the median income level rose 2.7 percent from $39,744 in 1998 to $40,816.

Native Americans, however, fell below the national median. From 1997 to 1999, the median income for American Indian and Alaska Natives was $30,784. This was slightly higher than Hispanics, with a median income of $30,735, and African-Americans, with a median of $27,910.

This year marks the first time the Census Bureau has reported poverty rates and income data for American Indian and Alaska Native populations. But the Census Bureau said the current method of sampling the population isn't large enough to produce "reliable" annual estimates for Native Americans, so they averaged poverty and income data over three years.

Additionally, the Bureau said the overall figures for Native Americans represent different groups with different economic characteristics. For example, Native Americans who lived on reservations or in Alaska Native villages had a much lower income than those who lived off-reservation.

In terms of states, New Mexico had the highest poverty rate, with 20.8 of the population living in poverty from 1997 to 1999. New Mexico has the second highest percentage of Native Americans, representing 9.5 percent of the state's population.

California, which has the nation's largest number of Native Americans, had a poverty rate of 15.3 during the same time frame.

Get the Poverty Report:
Poverty in the United States: 1999 (US Census Bureau. September 2000)
Money Income in the United States: 1999 (US Census Bureau. September 2000)

Relevant Links:
The US Census - www.census.gov

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