Commentary: Meet an Am Samoa household

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This is one in a series of articles concerning data included in the 2010 Census of American Samoa, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Warning: there are a lot of numbers to digest.

MEET AN AMERICAN SAMOA HOUSEHOLD

American Samoa had 9688 households when the Census takers did their work in 2010.

Not every household includes kids. In fact, 7% of the households consisted of only one person, living alone without children, spouse, or anyone else. About one-quarter of the households (24%) did not include a child 18 years of age or younger.

Of the 7,375 households with kids, 12% had only one parent present. Although a majority of those single-parent households are headed by a woman, about a third of them are headed by a man raising children without a spouse.

Senior citizens (65 years or older) were present in 19% of the households.

Half of local households had annual income of $24,000 or less, while the other half had annual incomes of greater than $24,000. The per capita income in American Samoa is $6,311 while the average household income is $34,254.

About 48% of American Samoa households, representing 56% of the local population, fall below the official U.S. poverty level. That is more than three times higher than the percentage of U.S. households that fall below the same poverty levels.

About 2,000 households (20% of the total number of households) earned $50,000 or more in 2010. Here is a little information on the number of our highest earning households:

2010 INCOME LEVEL

$50,000 to $74,999

NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS

1,100

2010 INCOME LEVEL

$65,000 to $99,999

NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS

467

2010 INCOME LEVEL

$100,000 and above

NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS

449

About 25% of local households receive some Social Security income. The average annual Social Security payment was $9,674 (monthly checks of $806). In total, Social Security Administration sends about $2 million a month to American Samoa. That’s why local merchants look forward to the day each month when their customers receive their Social Security checks.

Another 14% of local households receive a different retirement income (e.g., ASG retirement, veterans’ retirement). The average annual non-Social Security retirement income is $10,846, which means about $1.2 million per month in retirement payments get sent to our local retirees, each of whom receives an average of $903.

Not all money flowed into the territory. About 40% of the households sent money from American Samoa, presumably to family members living elsewhere (e.g., Samoa, the Philippines, Tonga). The average amount sent was $3,000 per year, or about $250 per month. Half the remittances were $100 per month or less, while the other half were more than $100/month.

In total, that amounts to remittance outflows of $12.5 million a year, or $1 million every month.

Vehicles and computers are often seen as symbols of prosperity in American Samoa, and it is thus worth noting that 62% of households had a vehicle and 63% of households had a computer.

That means 38% of local households had no car and approximately the same percentage lacked a computer. In 1990, 46% of households had no car, so it is apparent that car ownership has become slightly more common and widespread in the past 20 years.

WE ARE MUCH BETTER EDUCATED

As regards education, the Census shows a rapid rise in the number of residents with college experience and college degrees, and a rapid decrease in the number of residents lacking a high school diploma.

The percentage of adults who lacked a high school diploma plunged from 58% in 1980 to 18% in 2010.

The percentage of adults with some college education now stands at 34%. In 1980, only 6% of local residents had some college education.

The percentage of adults with a 4-year bachelors degree or higher (master’s degree, doctorate, PhD, MD, JD, etc.) is now 9%, whereas in 1980 only 2% of the population had those degrees.

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