Indicator: Those Living With an Income At or Below 250% of Federal Poverty Level (FPL)

201,919 people or 45.47% (2008)

Why is this important?

A community with a high level of poverty is not a sustainable one. It shows that parts of the population are being marginalized, and are unable to flourish. Those in poverty may not have sufficient access to housing, health care, education, and food. Furthermore, the demographics of poverty tell us that children are currently the age group most likely to live in poverty: "Children living in poverty are more likely to experience health problems and acute illness, and poverty is a factor in dropout rates."¹ Furthermore, young children living in poverty are less likely to be fully prepared for kindergarten, which may hinder them from succeeding in school and life.

Children from low income families are ‘more likely to suffer from preventable illnesses, fail in school, become teenaged parents, and become involved in the justice system. As a result, these young people frequently reach adulthood without the necessary tools, experience, and connections to succeed.²

Poverty causes a wide variety of risks for the development of young children. They may have poor nutrition, less stimulating environments, exposure to stress, less consistency in living environments and care providers, and less attention from parents who must work long hours and cope with the multiple stressors that poverty creates.³

Furthermore, the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. Increasing the financial stability of all, especially of families with young children can have positive effects on the children's outcomes.⁴

What will be measured and how?

The number and percentage of people living in Spokane who are at or below 250% of the Federal Poverty Level. The FPL or Federal Poverty Threshold was originally developed by Mollie Orshansky of the Social Security Administration in 1965 as a "detailed matrix of 124 poverty thresholds"⁵ which are weighted by family size and composition, along with several other factors. Several major changes have been made since then, and it has been updated yearly to account for things such as inflation and changing standards of living. For 2009, the FPL is:

Table 1.  The 2009 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of Colombia. ⁶ 

The FPL is not a living standard, however. A true living standard is 250% of FPL, which allows a family to live without the constant stress of inability to afford basic needs if an unexpected cost arises, such as car or hospital bills. We have also measured how many individuals are living at or below 200% of the FPL over the last 19 years, in order to observe historical trends, because data for 250% was not available.

The data will be collected from the annual Washington State Population Survey, courtesy of the Office of Financial Management. Older data was collected also from the US Census through the Decennial Census.

Where are we now?

The 2008 State Population Survey showed that the number of people living at 250% of FPL or below in Spokane County was 201,919 people out of a population of about 443,120. This is 45.57% of the population of Spokane County.⁷ Furthermore, it was found that for kindergarteners, "student preparedness levels tended to be lower in classes with high rates of poverty."⁸ The trend from 1990 for those living at or below 100% of FPL has been quite stable. Although the number of those in poverty has risen quite a bit, along with the total population rise, the percent of the total population has not changed much, increasing from 17% to 20% since 1990.⁹

         Figure 2.  Income Levels in Spokane, WA.  ^{10, 11, 12, 13} 

1.) "Kasserian Ingera: A Summary of Selected Youth Indicators" Spokane Regional Health District, Spokane, WA,  2009. Pg 3. 
2.) Prince, Pepper, and Brocato. "The Importance of Making the Well-Being of Children in Poverty a Priority". Early Childhood Education JournalVol 34, No. 1, August 2006.  Pg 1.
3.) "Poverty and Inequality and School Readiness" From: Community Assessment: King County Review of Health and Human services. United Way of King County.
4.) IBID
5.) Fisher, Gordon M., Department of Health and Human Services. "The Development and History of the U.S. Poverty Thresholds-A Brief Overview", GSS/SSS Newsletter [Newsletter of the Government Statistics Section and the Social Statistics Section of the American Statistical Association], Winter 1997, pp. 6-7. 
6.) United States Department of Health and Human Services "The 2009 HHS Poverty Guidelines: One Version of the U.S. Federal Poverty Measure" Federal Register, Vol. 74, No. 14, January 23, 2009, pp. 4199–4201. 
7.) "2008 Washington State Population Survey On-Line Results, Version 2" WA OFM
 8.) "Student Readiness for Kindergarten: A Survey of Kindergarten Teachers in Washington State". Dr. Terry Bergeson, Washington Superintendant of Public Instruction. November 2005.  pg 10.
9.) Erica Gardner, Forecast Analyst, Office of Financial Management of Washington State. From Washington State Population Survey: WSPS 2000v6, WSPS 2002v5, WSPS 2004v4, WSPS 2006v3, WSPS 2008v2. 
10.) IBID
11.) DP-3: Profile of Selected Economic Characteristics: 2000; Data Set: Census 2000 Summary File 3 (SF 3) - Sample Data. Geographic Area: Spokane city, Washington. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 3, Matrices P30, P32, P33, P43, P46, P49, P50, P51, P52, P53, P58, P62, P63, P64, P65, P67, P71, P72, P73, P74, P76, P77, P82, P87, P90, PCT47, PCT52, and PCT53.  
12.) P121. RATIO OF INCOME IN 1989 TO POVERTY LEVEL - Universe: Persons for whom poverty status is determined. Data Set: 1990 Summary Tape File 3 (STF 3) - Sample data. US Census Bureau
13.) Washington State Population Survey 2008. WA OFM