Research Reports

Small Area Estimation of School District Child Population and Poverty: Studying Use of IRS Income Tax Data

Jerry J. Maples and William R. Bell

KEY WORDS: Small Area Estimation, Synthetic Estimates, Poverty, School Districts

ABSTRACT

The Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) program provides estimates for selected income and poverty statistics for states, counties, and school districts. While direct poverty estimates for school districts were produced from the 1990 and 2000 censuses, producing updated (post-censal) estimates at the school district level presents some challenging problems. Until recently there were no available data sources tabulated for school districts that provided reliable, updated information related to poverty. Recent tabulations of IRS income tax data for school districts provide potentially useful sources of updated information on the distribution of poverty across school districts within counties. Several estimators using tabulations from the IRS Income Tax data are developed and evaluated against the 1990 and 2000 censuses.

CITATION:

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Research Division

Created: September 26, 2007
Last revised: September 26, 2007