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Household Income
Pinellas County’s median household income
(inflation-adjusted) is estimated at $44,292 in 2007, a gain of
5.6% over 2006 but 7.3% below the state average of $47,804.
Pinellas also lags behind other Florida counties of similar
size. 2007 marked the fifth consecutive year of growth in
Pinellas’ median household income since the 2002 recession low.
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During 2005-2007, the average estimated median household
income of Pinellas County households headed by a black
householder ($29,702) was 29.8% below the county’s overall
median household income ($42,310) and 32.0% below the median
household income of households headed by a white householder
($43,703). The wide disparity between median household incomes
of black and white households occurs throughout Florida.
Affordable
Housing Guideline
“The generally
accepted definition of affordability is for a household to pay
no more than 30 percent of its annual income on housing.
Families who pay more than 30 percent of their income for
housing are considered cost burdened and may have difficulty
affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation and
medical care. An estimated 12 million renter and homeowner
households now pay more then 50 percent of their annual incomes
for housing, and a family with one full-time worker earning the
minimum wage cannot afford the local fair-market rent for a
two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the United States. The lack of
affordable housing is a significant hardship for low-income
households preventing them from meeting their other basic needs,
such as nutrition and healthcare, or saving for their future and
that of their families”.
The U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) website:
http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/affordablehousing/index.cfm
Household Rent Burden – Pinellas County
The U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community
Survey (ACS) contains data on gross rent as a % of household
income by income group for renter occupied housing units. Gross
rent is defined as “the amount of the contract rent plus the
estimated average monthly cost of utilities (electricity, gas,
and water and sewer) and fuels (oil, coal, kerosene, wood, etc.)
if these are paid for by the renter or paid for the renter by
someone else.”
According to the ACS surveys for 2005-2007,
more than 90% of Pinellas County households with incomes below
$20,000, approximately 32,000 households, spend 30% or more of
their income on gross rent, making it difficult to provide their
families with basic family necessities such as food and
healthcare.
Read More About It:
The Growing Divide Income Inequality and its Effects on
Florida’s Families
http://www.risep-fiu.org/reports/Growing_Divide_2008.pdf
Florida:
Demographics of Low-Income Children:
http://nccp.org/profiles/FL_profile_6.html
Working Poor, 2006:
http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswp2006.pdf
Working Poor Families Project:
http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/still_working.html |
