County residents make less than average
Warren countians make less than the state average and there are more people in the Nursery Capital living under the poverty level than most of Tennessee.
The revelation comes as part of the recently released economic census report compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau based on the 2000 Census. While showing Warren County fared well when compared to some of its neighbors, the report revealed Warren County lagged way behind the dramatic economic growth seen in the Nashville suburbs.
According to the report, the median household income in Warren County is $30,920 – significantly less than the state average of $36,360. Residents of neighboring Coffee County could expect to earn 25 percent more than Warren countians as the median household income there was listed at $40,228. The gap was even wider when compared to Nashville suburbs as people in Rutherford County (Murfreesboro) had a median household income of $46,310.
Rutherford County was bested by Wilson County (Lebanon) where the median household income was $50,140. In Williamson County (Franklin), workers could expect to make more than double their Warren County counterparts as the median income there was $69,104.
Warren countians, however, did earn more than some of their neighbors, besting White County with a median income of $29,383, DeKalb with $30,359, Van Buren with $28,165 and Grundy with $22,959. Cannon County was slightly better with $32,809.
The poverty level was fairly high in Warren County as 13 percent of Warren County families (1,412 families) were living below what is considered the poverty line. Of those in poverty here, 38 percent were single-parent households headed by a single mother with dependent children under-18.
The number of people living in poverty in Warren County was above the state average of 10.3 percent. It was also above several neighboring counties which Warren County surpassed in median income including DeKalb with 11.8 percent and White with 11.2 percent.
Van Buren County had a 13.7 percent poverty rate, Coffee County a 10 percent rate and Rutherford County a 5.8 percent rate. Grundy County was one of the poorest counties in the state with 22.6 percent of its families below the poverty line. Williamson County had the least people in poverty in the Midstate with 3.5 percent.
While the statistics showed Warren County had a higher-than-average number of people living in poverty, the Census showed there are a handful of rich citizens, with 124 families (0.8 percent) reporting annual income of $200,000 or more.
There were seven families who reported living in houses worth in excess of $1 million in Warren County. There were 323 families living in houses worth in excess of $200,000. The average family, or 52.9 percent of the families who own homes here, live in a structure worth between $50,000 and $99,999. About 35 percent report paying somewhere between $500 and $900 a month in mortgage and house-expense payments.
On the opposite end, 2,169 families (14.3 percent) reported making less than $10,000 a year. Those who rent, on average, pay $416 rent per month.
On the upside, 92 percent of Warren countians reported owning at least one vehicle. About 63 percent said they owned two or more vehicles.
As far as vehicle usage, 79 percent said they drove alone to work while 15 percent said they participated in some type of carpool. Only 36 people said they use public transportation to get to work. The average commute time to work from home here is 23 minutes.
As for phone service, 5 percent of the families (734) said they did not have their own phone. There were 57 families who did not have complete plumbing facilities in their homes.
The most recent Census shows there are 38,276 residents in Warren County.