The Social Environment

Median Family Income

Adequate income helps ensure that families have access to food, shelter and transportation. In 2000, there were 347,923 families living in Bexar County and the county-wide median family income was $42,724. This was lower than the Texas median family income of $45,861 and substantially below that of Harris County ($49,004). There is a significant disparity in family income between the sectors on the south side of Bexar County compared to the sectors on the north side. On average, incomes for families living in the north are 70 percent higher than for families living in the south. In Texas and in Bexar County, the median family income of Hispanics is 55 percent of that of non-Hispanic whites. However, when viewed on a sector-by-sector basis, the disparity between Hispanic and non-Hispanic white family incomes is around 80 percent. This suggests that factors other than race/ethnicity play a role in the noticeably lower incomes in the sectors in south of Bexar County. Estimates of median family income are not available for 2004.

Families with children under 18 living below the federal poverty guidelines

The official poverty rate in the United States in 2004 was 12.7 percent, up from 12.5 percent in 2003. The increase is the equivalent of about one million people⁶. The federal poverty guidelines in 2004 set an income of $20,000 for a family of four as living at the poverty threshold⁷. These families are at risk of not being able to adequately meet their needs for food and shelter. There were 202,384 families with children younger than 18 living in Bexar County in 2000, of these, 18 percent were living on incomes below the federal poverty guidelines. This is slightly higher than Texas (16.6 percent) and Harris County (16.3 percent). As with other income measures, the proportion of families with children under 18 living below poverty is 2.5 to 3 times higher in the south than in the north part of the county. Thirty percent of children under 18 residing in the South sector live below the poverty level. In the Northeast and North Central sectors only 9 and 10 percent of children live below poverty.