Travis County Poverty Brief

July 2024

For prior versions of this report, please visit the  Research & Planning Supplemental Reports .

Introduction

When it comes to reporting data on poverty and residents experiencing economic hardship, information can easily be misinterpreted and create unintended consequences, like perpetuating negative stereotypes and feeding narratives that blame individuals or groups for disadvantaged circumstances beyond their control. In this vein, Research & Planning recognizes that poverty is not a result of motivation or lack thereof but of structural consequences. When opportunity is not equal, when the color of one’s skin, their age, or family composition, makes it two or three times more likely that one will experience poverty, it is the failure of systems and policies, and not the individual. The data provided is intended to spark conversation on how we can best serve all of Travis County’s residents. 

To understand how to best serve all of Travis County’s residents, we explore poverty statistics with the hope of being able to answer:

  1. Who is being affected by structural inequities the most and therefore are at the highest risk of experiencing poverty?
  2. What is the geographic connection, if any, to poverty?

What is poverty?

Poverty is a consequence of structural and systemic inequities that limits access to resources and opportunities people require to meet basic needs and achieve their desired quality of life. This report relies on American Community Survey (ACS) data from the U.S. Census Bureau, which measures poverty by comparing an individual or household income level to an annually determined poverty threshold.

How is poverty measured?

The Official Poverty Measure

The Official Poverty Measure (OPM) is a set of poverty thresholds determined annually by the U.S. Census Bureau. It is used to make statistical determinations about poverty. The OPM uses income to make inferences about the ability to acquire basic needs. It was established in the 1960’s in response to the “War on Poverty” and based on a methodology for “counting the poor” developed by the Social Security Administration. 1  It is especially useful for looking at trends over time because it uses national income data which, for over 50 years now, has been regularly collected by the U.S. Census Bureau.  However, there are also many limitations to using this measure for understanding how individuals meet basic needs including 2 :

  • It does not take into account the geographic variability in costs of living.
  • It does not take into account other resources individuals use to acquire basic needs such as public benefits, savings, and other assets.
  • It does not take into account access to credit which can be used to acquire basic needs.
  • It does not take into account costs related to housing, clothing, transportation, and other expenses commonly considered basic human needs. 3 

Despite these limitations, it is one of the most widely used and accessible poverty measures, and the measure used throughout this report.

A person or family is considered in poverty if the household’s annual pre-tax total income is below a certain threshold (three times the cost of a minimum food diet for the household size and type). The thresholds vary by age and number of adults and number of children under 18 in the family unit. 4 

Residents who are considered to be living in poverty have incomes below 100% of the poverty threshold.  Some sections of this report also include data on people living below 200% the poverty threshold, which is an indicator of economic hardship and more accurately captures the individuals and families that move in and out of poverty. Data for the population below 200% of the poverty threshold is not available for all datasets presented in this report.

Poverty Guidelines

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USD-HHS) sets the annual poverty guidelines. The poverty guidelines are distinct from the poverty thresholds and are used to determine eligibility for a variety of federal programs, including the National School Lunch Program and Head Start. Portions of other programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, also utilize the poverty guidelines. Poverty guidelines do not have an age component and are based upon the number of people in a family or household.

The poverty guidelines may be referred to as “federal poverty levels,” although USD-HHS does not advise using this term due to its vagueness. 5 

What causes poverty?

The causes and consequences of poverty are interconnected. The conditions that increase the risk of poverty can also be the result of being in poverty. For example, low educational attainment may increase the risk of poverty by limiting economic opportunity, but it may also be a consequence of poverty as it may limit access to higher education opportunities or create the need to earn an immediate income because increasing one’s employment skills or education requires time and expenses. Though not an exhaustive list, the following are structural and systemic factors that continue to drive poverty locally and nationally 6 :

  • Low wages (e.g., stagnant minimum wage.)
  • Highly insecure work (e.g. the unpredictable nature of the “gig” economy.)
  • High cost of living (e.g. housing, child-care costs, etc.)
  • High cost of healthcare and medical debt. 7 
  • Barriers in accessing employment opportunities (e.g. transportation, lack of technology/broadband, high educational or skill attainment expectations.)
  • Barriers in accessing educational opportunities (e.g. transportation, cost of tuition, accessing technology and digital literacy gap.)
  • Cutbacks to social protection programs (e.g. funding cuts to SNAP, HUD rental assistance for low-income households, and Medicaid.)

Key Terminology

Official Poverty Measure (OPM): Is determined annually by the U.S. Census bureau and is based off the minimum amount of food needed to have a nutritionally “fair” to “good” diet in the 1960s. Poverty Guidelines: Used to determine eligibility and are produced by USD-HHS. The Poverty Guidelines are based off of the OPM. Poverty guidelines use the number of people in a family unit to determine poverty status. For 2022, add $4,720 for each additional person to the base amount of $13,590. 8  Poverty Threshold: A measurement of poverty determined by the U.S. Census Bureau. Poverty threshold calculations use a person’s age and household composition.    Federal Poverty Limits/Levels (FPL): This is how the Poverty Guidelines are commonly referenced. Individuals for Whom Poverty Status is Determined: This includes all people except institutionalized people, people in military group quarters, people in college dormitories, people in unconventional living situations (and not in a shelter), and unrelated individuals of a household under 15 years of age (income questions are asked of people age 15 and older, so if someone under age 15 is not living with a family member, the Census Bureau does not know their income). Because people whose poverty status is undefined are excluded from Census Bureau poverty tabulations, the total population represented in poverty tables--the poverty universe--is slightly smaller than the overall population. 9  Ratio of Income to Poverty Threshold: The ACS provides some data sets by the ratio of income to poverty threshold. The ratio of income to poverty is computed by dividing the total family income by the appropriate poverty threshold for that person’s family size and composition. 10  Estimates: Poverty estimates (numbers) provide an approximation of how many people in a given group are living in poverty. Estimates are statistically determined based on a sample and weighted to bring the characteristics of the sample more into agreement with the full population. 11  Rates: Poverty rates help us make comparisons between geographies and population groups and understand what groups may be disproportionately represented among the population living in poverty. ACS data tables provide estimates for the number of individuals who are living in poverty, displayed according to various characteristics (i.e. age, family type, level of education) and geographies (i.e. cities, counties, block groups). The poverty rate for any given group is calculated by dividing the number of people in the group who live in poverty by the total number of people in the group for whom poverty is determined. For example, the poverty rate for children under 18 years is the number of children in households with incomes below the poverty threshold, divided by the total number of children for whom poverty is determined. Thus, the poverty rate is the percentage of people living in poverty.  In this report, poverty rate and “percent in poverty” are used interchangeably. The three scenarios below demonstrate why it is important to consider both numbers and rates when using poverty data to answer a question or make a decision.

  • High number, low rate:  There may be a high number of persons in poverty, but because of a high number in the overall population the rate of poverty may be low.
  • Low number, high rate:  Some groups are small in overall size but have many members living in poverty. These groups have relatively small number of people in poverty but a high poverty rate.
  • High number, high rate:  Some groups make up a large share of the county’s population and also have many members living in poverty. These groups will have both a high number of people living in poverty and a high poverty rate.

Difference: The difference is calculated by subtracting the most recent estimate (2018-2022) from the old estimate (2013-2017) to show the difference between them. Percentage Change: Percent change represents the relative change in size of a population between two time periods. The percent change is similar to the difference but used to describe that change as a percent of the old value. Percent change is different than growth rate. Growth rate represents the average amount of change per year or per month across a time period. There are different formulas for calculating growth rates because there are varying assumptions you can apply to the data – like assuming the growth rate in the period was linear or exponential. We do not calculate growth rates in this report. Zip Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs): ZCTAs are different from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) ZIP codes used for mail service. ZCTAs are approximate area representations of USPS five-digit ZIP Code service areas that the Census Bureau creates using whole blocks to present statistical data from censuses and surveys. The U.S. Census Bureau created the ZCTAs as a statistical geographic entity to overcome more frequent changes to ZIP code areas by the USPS. ZCTAs are relatively stable over time, whereas ZIP Code areas by the USPS change more frequently to support more efficient mail delivery. ZCTAs should not be used to identify the official USPS ZIP Code for mail delivery. 12 

How to Use the Maps

The web maps in this report are interactive. The following graphic highlights features of the maps that can be used to explore the data.


Reflection

Data is a tool to observe trends, make decisions, and build a shared understanding of our community. We encourage users to reflect on the following questions to make their own inferences and consider the implications of poverty on their current and future work.

  1. What do you notice in the data? What do you wonder about in the data?
  2. What trends are you seeing the data?
  3. How does this data reflect the changes in poverty for the communities you live in/serve? How would you describe your or your clients’ lived reality in relation to this data?
  4. In what ways can you connect this data and any observations with your programs and the Travis County residents you serve?
  5. Are there programmatic changes that your agency could make in response to the data in this report?

Data and Maps

The data presented here uses the 2018-2022 5-year ACS estimates rather than 1-year estimates because they are more reliable, provide the largest sample size, and allow for smaller geographic analysis. The 2013-2017 ACS 5-year estimates are used to explore trends over time. The main limitation with the 5-year estimates is timeliness whereas the 1-year estimates provide the most current data available and a more nuanced look at trends over time.

The indicators chosen for this report are based on several factors including community need, user feedback, data availability, and reliability.

Geographic Comparison

During the 2018-2022 time period, the rate of Texas residents living below 100% of the poverty threshold exceeded the rate for the United States as a whole. However, as compared to the state, Travis County had a lower rate of residents experiencing poverty.

Ratio of Income to Poverty

Approximately one in four (24%) Travis County residents are living below 200% of poverty and are experiencing economic hardship. Comparing the two time periods shows that poverty trends are improving as the rates of people living below 100% and between 100-199% decreased. However, when reading this data, the user should be aware that it does not consider residential mobility (the frequency with which people change residences) in our Central Texas region.


Poverty in the Austin-Round Rock, Texas Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)


Percent of Travis County Population under 200% of the Poverty Threshold by ZCTA, Changes from 2013-2017 to 2018-2022

Within Travis County ZCTAs, the number and rate of residents living below 200% of the poverty threshold generally decreased between the 2013-2017 and 2018-2022 time periods. Some ZCTAs in the northeastern and southeastern regions of the county experienced increases in residents in poverty between the time periods. Not all changes were statistically significant. ZCTA 78712 was excluded from analysis, since it is a highly dense University of Texas housing area.

Additional information about residents living below 100% of the poverty threshold is available in each ZCTA popup.


ZCTA Rate Under 200% of Poverty Compared to Travis County Rate (24%)


Poverty Within Travis County Commissioner Precincts in 2018-2022


Age

Children under 18 years old experience higher than average poverty rates with 30% of children living below 200% of the poverty threshold in 2018-2022. Though young adults 18-24 years old experienced the highest rates of poverty with 46% living under 200% of the poverty threshold, a deeper analysis shows that most young adults (61%) living below 200% of poverty are enrolled in post-secondary school.  13 

Between the two time periods shown in the table, both the rate and number of individuals living below 200% of the poverty threshold decreased for all age groups and the total population.


Race and Hispanic Origin

Between 2018-2022, African American or Black residents, as well as Hispanic residents of any race, were overrepresented in the Travis County population experiencing poverty compared to their share of the total population. These two groups also experienced the highest rates of poverty at 17%, which is the number of people in the group who live in poverty divided by the total number of people in the group, compared to the total population at 11%, making these groups the most vulnerable to experiencing poverty. Two groups saw their poverty rates decrease from 2013-2017, Hispanic or Latino, any race (-5%), and White, Non-Hispanic (-1%). The poverty rates for African American or Black, Asian, and Two or More Races had no statistically significant change between the two time periods. Due the small sample size of the Smallest Populations, the estimate of people experiencing poverty as well as the poverty rate are not reliable at the 90% confidence level and should be used with caution.


Race and Hispanic Origin of Travis County Residents in 2018-2022

This is a dot density map of the population broken down by race and Hispanic origin. This data does not include poverty. These are estimates of the number of people by census tract. Dots are randomly scattered and are not connected to physical buildings. This map is intended as a high-level reference to better understand the diversity of the region.


Work Experience

During the 2018-2022 time period, an estimated 11% of Travis County residents were below 100% of the poverty threshold. Among those below 100% of the poverty threshold, 12% were full-time workers, 38% were part-time workers, and 50% did not work. These rates are considered reliable. The source data did not provide any additional information about why residents were not working.

Between the 2013-2017 and 2018-2022 time periods, the rate of non-workers below the poverty threshold increased by 2%. There was no statistical difference between the rates for full-time and part-time workers below the poverty threshold during the time periods. The rate of full-time workers above the poverty threshold increased by 1% and the rate of non-workers above the poverty threshold decreased by 1% during the time periods. There was no statistical difference between the rates for part-time workers above the poverty threshold during the time periods.


Children and Parents

Children living in a one-parent household had the highest rate of poverty at 30%. Though children living in a two-parent household had the lowest rate of poverty, 19% were still living below 200% of the poverty threshold and experiencing economic hardship. The table shows that all family types with children had a number decrease as well as a rate decrease. Overall, the poverty rate for families with children decreased by 9 percentage points between 2013-2017 and 2018-2022 from 38% to 29%.


Learn More

There are many resources available to help understand how people experience poverty, why it exists, and how it is measured.

The Supplemental Poverty Measure

The OPM (poverty thresholds) and the poverty guidelines are not the only standard measures of poverty. The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) was developed in 2011 by economists at the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics, to improve upon the limitations of the official poverty measure. Several ways in which the SPM addresses those limitations are outlined below. The Census Bureau reports data for both measures.

  • It extends the “cash-only” income indicator of the official measure to include receipt of public benefits such as housing subsidies, SNAP benefits, and WIC.
  • It accounts for additional expenses such as child care and healthcare costs.
  • It accounts for geographic variability in costs of living.

Above are only a few examples of how the SPM differs from the official measure.  The Census Bureau provides a detailed comparison of the measures in an informative infographic: “How the U.S. Census Bureau Measures Poverty”. 14  The chart below is an excerpt from the 2022 Poverty in the United States Report comparing the OPM and SPM national rates by age, sex, and race. 15 

The chart below compares the Austin-Round Rock MSA OPM to the SPM. 16  These figures may serve as a reminder to the reader of how the different factors used in the two measures can change how poverty is depicted.

The following resources are useful for interpreting poverty data and provide additional insight on the causes and consequences of poverty:

In addition to academic and policy sources, print and broadcast news stories can help provide important local social and economic context for poverty data.


About this Report

About the Authors

This report was researched and written by the staff at Travis County Health and Human Services, Research & Planning Division. Lead writers were Erin McManus, Rochelle Olivares, and Sarah Stone, LMSW, with support from Korey Darling (Division Director), and Pilar Sanchez (County Executive for Travis County HHS).

For questions or for more information please contact the Research & Planning Division at HHS_R&P@traviscountytx.gov.

The Data Source: ACS 5-Year Estimates

The ACS is conducted continuously on a yearly basis, and includes questions about demographic, social, housing, and economic characteristics. ACS data sets are released as period estimates that represent the characteristics of the population and housing over a specific data collection period of 12 or 60 months. This differs from the decennial census, which is designed to measure characteristics during a narrow time period. 17 

We use 2018-2022 ACS 5-year estimates (data collected over 60 months), rather than 1-year estimates because they are more reliable and provide the largest sample size. The 5-year data sets are also unique in that they include data for small levels of geography (e.g. Zip Code Tabulation Areas) which allows us to explore poverty at the sub-county level. The 2013-2017 ACS 5-year estimates are used to explore trends over time. As previously mentioned, the main limitation with the 5-year estimates is timeliness whereas the 1-year estimates provide the most current data available and a more nuanced look at trends over time.

Due to the differences stated above, poverty statistics from 5-year estimates and 1-year estimates may differ. As a result, the poverty statistics in this report may vary from other Travis County HHS Research & Planning reports (such as the Travis County Snapshot) or other reports released by our partners in the community.

Data Testing

We tested all ACS estimates presented in this report at a 90% confidence level for reliability. This test involves calculating the coefficient of variation (CV). The CV uses the margin of error, which gives an idea of the variability of an estimate, to measure the reliability of the estimate. To help interpret the estimate’s reliability, we use the following tiered reliability standards which are based on the value of the CV:

  • 15.49% and under:  Reliable
  • 15.5% to 30.49%:  Unreliable: use with caution
  • 30.5% and over:  Unreliable: do not use

Estimates with a CV of 15.5% or higher are noted with asterisks to signal to the reader that the data points fall into an unreliable tier. Our decision to publish estimates that are not reliable was driven by the need to 1) provide building blocks representing small subsets of the population for future trend analysis and 2) as much as possible, represent the entirety and diversity of our community. In cases where estimates are not reliable, please draw conclusions with caution.

Any comparisons explicitly highlighted in the narrative text have also been tested for statistical significance and can be assumed to be statistically significant unless stated otherwise. Some notable exceptions where statistical significance was not found or not possible to determine have been footnoted. Testing was not conducted on every possible permutation of comparisons between data presented here, so inferences about statistics and trends should be drawn with caution.

For more information and instruction on testing for reliability and statistical significance, as well as general guidance on how to use American Community Survey data, please see the handbooks published by the U.S. Census Bureau. 18 

Maps

The geographies used in this report are ZCTAs and Travis County Commissioner precincts. The boundaries of Travis County Commissioner precincts are set by the Commissioner’s Court and may change in response to new decennial census estimates. 19  To facilitate development of the current precinct boundaries, the Travis County Commissioner’s Court adopted guidelines for redrawing the precincts, which included:

  • Keeping population variances between precincts under 10%.
  • Guaranteeing compliance with applicable federal and state law, including the U.S. and Texas Constitutions and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
  • Supporting communities of interest, defined as groups with shared policy concerns, to the extent allowable under federal and state law.
  • Preserving whole Voting Tabulation Districts (VTDs), to the extent feasible.
  • Ensuring geographic contiguity for precincts. 20 

Data reported for Travis County Commissioner precincts are aggregations of census tract estimates. Census tracts were spatially joined to precincts using a largest overlap methodology, in which the amount a census tract overlapped a precinct determined its assignment to a specific precinct. All census tracts were matched to a single precinct.

For visualization, race and ethnicity data are provided at the tract level within Travis County. However, data testing was not performed on any estimates used for this visualization.

Limitations: There are limitations with using ZCTAs rather than census tracts, which are small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a county that generally have a population between 1,200 and 8,000 people. 21  One limitation includes losing the ability for readers to look at data within smaller, more specific geographic areas than ZCTAs, which are larger in size than census tracts. Other limitations include the fact that ZCTAs may cross county lines, whereas census tracts do not, and data by ZCTAs are only available with 5-year estimates, which are less timely than 1-year estimates. Limitations also exist for reporting data by Travis County Commissioner precincts. Because census tracts are not coincident with precinct boundaries, the data reported for precincts are approximations based upon census tract estimates.

Calculations: The rate for each ZCTA and Travis County Commissioner precinct is calculated by dividing the number of people in the ZCTA or precinct who live below 100% and 200% of poverty by the total number of people in the ZCTA or precinct. Thus, the rate is the percentage of people living below 100% or 200% of poverty for the respective ZCTA or precinct.


Data by ZCTA

 Appendix A  presents the number and rate of residents below 200% of the poverty threshold by ZCTA in Travis County.


Sources

 1  U.S. Census Bureau, Measuring America: Poverty: The History of a Measure, revised 16 March 2017,   https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2014/demo/poverty_measure-history.html 

 2  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Limitations of Material Hardship, Final Report, Limitations of Income-based Poverty Measures,  published April 2004,  https://aspe.hhs.gov/report/measures-material-hardship-final-report/limitations-income-based-poverty-measures 

 3  Lillian Kilduff, " How Poverty in the United States is Measured and Why It Matters," published 31 January 2022,  https://www.prb.org/resources/how-poverty-in-the-united-states-is-measured-and-why-it-matters/ 

 4  U.S. Census Bureau, Poverty Thresholds, last revised 23 January 2024,  https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-poverty-thresholds.html 

 5  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Poverty Guidelines, published 21 January 2022,  https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/poverty-guidelines 

 6  University of Wisconsin-Madison, Institute for Poverty Research, Poverty Fact Sheets, published 2012-2019,  https://www.irp.wisc.edu/resource_type/poverty-fact-sheet/ 

 7  Bernard, D., Selden, T., & Fang, Z. (2023, November). The Joint Distribution Of High Out-Of-Pocket Burdens, Medical Debt, And Financial Barriers To Needed Care.  https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2023.00604 

 8  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Prior HHS Poverty Guidelines and Federal Register References, accessed 8 May 2024,  https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/poverty-guidelines/prior-hhs-poverty-guidelines-federal-register-references 

 9  U.S. Census Bureau, How the Census Bureau Measures Poverty, revised 15 June 2023,  https://www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/poverty/guidance/poverty-measures.html 

 10  For more information on how the U.S. Census Bureau measures poverty see:  https://www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/poverty.html  

 11  For more information on how the U.S. Census Bureau creates estimates see: American Community Survey Design and Methodology Chapter 11: Weighting and Estimation,  https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/methodology/design-and-methodology.html 

 12  U.S. Census Bureau, 2021 Geographic Terms and Concepts, revised 16 December 2021,  https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/about/glossary/geo-terms.html 

 13  Research & Planning Division, “Travis County Poverty Brief using 2019 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates,” Travis County Health and Human Services, 2021.  Appendix A,  https://www.traviscountytx.gov/images/health_human_services/Docs/Factors_Contributing_to_the_Poverty_Rate_of_18_to_24_year_olds.pdf 

 14  Measuring America: How the U.S. Census Bureau Measures Poverty, revised June 2023,  https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2017/demo/poverty_measure-how.html 

 15  U.S. Census Bureau, Poverty in the United States: 2022. Figure 7: Percentage of People in Poverty by Different Poverty Measures, accessed 8 March 2024,  https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-280.pdf 

 16  Ibid., Table: SPM Thresholds by Metro Area: 2022, accessed 12 April 2024,  https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/demo/tables/p60/280/SPM-pov-threshold-2022.xlsx 

 17  U.S. Census Bureau, Understanding and Using American Community Survey Data: What All Data Users Need to Know, U.S Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 2020.

 18  U.S. Census Bureau, Guidance for Data Users, revised 13 March 2024,  https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/guidance.html 

 19  Texas Constitution, Article 5, Sec. 18 Division of Counties into Precincts; Justices of the Peace and Constables; County Commissioners and County Commissioners Court, accessed 2 April 2024,  https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CN/htm/CN.5.htm 

 20  Travis County Commissioners Court, Guidelines for the Travis County Commissioners Court 2021 Redistricting Process, published 21 September 2021,  https://www.traviscountytx.gov/images/intergovernmental_relations/2021-redistricting-process-guidelines.pdf 

 21  U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Geography Glossary, revised 11 April 2022,  https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/about/glossary.html 

Suggested Citation

Research & Planning Division, “Travis County Poverty Brief using 2022 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates,” Travis County Health and Human Services, 2024.