|
Poverty
in Maine - 2006
Franklin County Profile
|
-
Franklin County’s
population increased only .8% from 2000 to 2005, compared with
the state’s overall population growth rate of 3.7%. However
the county is one of five in Maine that reversed from being a
net outmigration county in the 1990s to a net inmigration
county in 2000-2004. Franklin has a higher estimated
proportion of the population age 18-64 than in the state as a
whole, possibly due to the college-age population.
-
Franklin County’s
individual poverty rate in 2003 was higher than the state
rate, both for the population as a whole and for those under
18.
-
Median household
income in Franklin County in 2003 was 13.5% lower than the
state median income. It was 10% below the 200% poverty level
for a four-person household.
-
The 2004 ‘livable
wage’ estimate for a four-person household (2 parents, both
wage earners, and 2 children) in Franklin County was more than
twice as high as the poverty level for a four-person
household.
-
The proportion of
per-capita personal income in 2004 from net earnings was
somewhat lower in Franklin County than in the state as a
whole, and the proportion from transfer payments was
considerably higher.
-
Franklin County’s
monthly average unemployment rate for 2005 was almost a full
percentage point higher than the state average.
-
Franklin County
residents were somewhat above the state average participation
rates for food stamps in FY05.
-
The proportion of
the school-age population eligible for free and reduced school
lunch in FY06 was considerably higher than in the state as a
whole.
-
The proportion of
households receiving LIHEAP benefits in FY05 was higher than
in the state as a whole, and was the highest participation
rate of any county. A much larger proportion of all households
with members age 65 or over in Franklin County received LIHEAP
than in the state as a whole.
-
A lower proportion
of the Franklin County population has college degrees
(associate or bachelor’s) than in the state as a whole,
though a higher proportion has high school degrees.
TREND HIGHLIGHTS
-
Over the most
recent four-year period for which county-level data are
available, the poverty rate trend in Franklin County generally
mirrors that of the state as a whole. The estimated percentage
of individuals below poverty increased each year from 2000 to
2002, with a decrease in 2003, back down to the 2000 level
-
Over the four-year
period from FY02 to FY05, the number of Franklin County
households receiving food stamps increased each year; the
number in FY05 was 40.7% greater than in FY2002, which was
somewhat less than the statewide increase of 49% in this time
period.
-
The number of
Franklin County households receiving LIHEAP benefits in FY05
was greater than in FY02, though in FY03 and FY04 there were
somewhat fewer households.
-
From 2002 to 2005,
Franklin County’s monthly average unemployment rate reached
a peak in 2003. It remained stable in 2004 and 2005, slightly
higher than in 2002.
-
The percentage of
school-age children eligible for free and reduced school lunch
in Franklin County increased from FY03 to FY06, showing a
generally similar pattern of increase as the state as a whole,
though with a slightly sharper increase from FY05 to FY06.
MAPS AND GRAPHS
|
|
Previous: Cumberland
County
|
Table of
Contents
|
Next: Hancock
County
|
|
