Our Tempe Community

Results from the 2005 Census were recently released.  Some of the major item in Tempe, compared with the 2000 Censure, are:
bullet Tempe's 2005 Poverty Rate is down from 2000
bullet Tempe's Hispanic population increased to 22%
bullet Tempe's higher income groups increased significantly
bullet Tempe Non-family households increased to about    50% versus Family households
bullet Numbers of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren increased to 927
bullet Tempe's People with Disabilities population decreased

Poverty - The chart below compares poverty percents from 2005 with 2000 for East Valley cities, Phoenix and the State and County as a whole.

Percentages of people in poverty at either end of the age continuum are also compared in the Census.  The table below shows Tempe compared with the same geographic area by percent of youth and of seniors living in poverty.

  • In all areas shown, a higher proportion of youth are living in poverty than are seniors.

  • Tempe has the lowest proportion of seniors in poverty but the third highest of youth in 2005 among the areas listed.

As a final note on poverty in Tempe, the middle age group (18-64) in Tempe had the highest poverty rate of the three age groups in 2005 at 14.9%.
 
Age Groups - This chart compares Tempe age groups for the 2000 and 2005 census.
Youth - Increased 4% from 2000.
Adults- Increased 5.23%
Seniors- Increased 3.7%
Thus, the Adult group was the only one that matched or exceeded the overall 4.75% population group in Tempe.
The Tempe Median Age decreased slightly, from 28.8 to 28.4.
 

Race - As this chart shows, racial proportions in Tempe changed little between 2000 and 2005 except for Black/African American, which decreased from 4% to 3% of the overall population.  The Black population decreased by 891 persons from the 2000 Black population.

 

 

Hispanic - The Hispanic Population in Tempe increased from 28,473 to 36,500 over the 5-year period.  As the chart indicates, the Hispanic population in Tempe (who may be of any race) is now 22% of the total population, compared to 29% in both Maricopa County and in Arizona as a whole.

 

 

 

Household Income - The chart to the right compares Tempe household in come of 2000 to 2005.  Upper income levels increased the most in percentage:
$100,000+up by 32%
$75 - $99,999 up by 16%
Conversely, some of the middle income groups ($25K - $49,999 and $50K - $74,999) decreased somewhat.

 

Family/Non-family household - The trend in Tempe toward more non-family households (people living together who are not related) continued with the 2005 Census.  As the chart to the right shows, the proportion of family to non-family households is close to 50-50 in 2005.  By comparison, for both Maricopa and Arizona, the 2005 proportion is 66% Family and 34% Non-family.

Average household size (all types) increased somewhat, from 2.41 persons to 2.48 in 2005.

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren  There was an increase in number and proportion of Grandparents responsible for raising their grandchildren in 2005: 927, up from 873 in 2000.  There was a comparable increase in Maricopa County of such grandparents to 28,749.

Commuting Time  Tempe's Mean Commuting Time stayed about the same in 2005 at 20.3 minutes.  That compares with 24.8 for Arizona as a whole and 26.4 minutes for Maricopa County.

Disabilities - The proportion and actual numbers of people with disabilities in Tempe apparently decreased significantly from 2000 to 2005.  As the chart shows, the number of people with disabilities (ages 5+) lessened from 22,308 in 2000 to 15,168 in 2005, coming down from 15% to just 10% of the total Tempe population.  Reasons for this decrease are unknown, although this might be a good point to note that the 2005 Census is sampled and has a margin of error of 10%.  That means the 15,168 figure might be 1,516 more (16,684) or less (13,652).

Of comparable interest, the Maricopa County proportion of people with disabilities rose from 8% in 2000 to 12% in 2005.

The 2005 Census was different this time, marking a very significant change for how often new Census figures will be available for our community.  The Census Bureau established the American Community Survey in recent years and added Tempe to the survey, meaning Tempe will now be part of an ongoing Census effort.  The data is available online at www.census.gov .

The demographics were provided by Steve Wise, Tempe Community Council.