In the last decade, Rhode Island’s capital city has seen tremendous growth and change economically and aesthetically, and, according to the most recent census information, in population.
According to 2000 U.S. Census Bureau information, total population in Providence is 173,618, up from 160,728 ten years earlier. Of that, 52.2 percent of the population is female, Those aged 20 to 34 account for 28.1 percent of Providence’s population, while people aged 35 to 54 account for 23 percent. The smallest population is those 85 and over, at 1.6 percent, followed by the 60- to 64-year-old bracket, at 2.7 percent.
Median resident age is 28.1 years, with those 21 and older accounting for 64.2 percent of the population. Nearly 94 percent of respondents considered themselves of one race, with 54.5 percent white, 14.5 percent black or African American, 1.1 percent American Indian and Alaska Native, and 6 percent Asian, Thirty percent describe themselves as Hispanic or Latino, 70 percent not Hispanic or Latino and 45.8 percent white alone.
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Of the 69,570 Providence residents over age 16 who were employed in non-military service, 32.9 percent are in management, professional and related occupations, 17.8 percent in service occupations, 23.7 percent in sales and office positions, 5.2 percent in construction, maintenance and related professions, 20.2 percent in production, transportation and material moving occupations, and less than one percent in farming, fishing and forestry positions.
Eighty-three percent were considered private wage and salary workers, 11.6 percent government employees, 4.2 percent self-employed workers in their own, not incorporated business, and less than one percent were unpaid family workers.
The 2000 census figures show that in the previous year, median family income was $32,058. Median earnings for males employed full-time, year round were $28,894, while females working the same amount earned only $23,472. Also in 1999, fifteen percent of Providence families earned less than $10,000, while approximately the same percentages were found in the $15,000 to $24,999, $35,000 to $49,999 and $50,000 to $74,999 ranges. Families earning over $200,000 accounted for 2.7 percent of the population.
There were 23.9 percent of families living below the poverty level in Providence, 39.2 percent of them with children under 5. Slightly more than 29 percent of individuals were living below the poverty level, 19 percent of them 65 year old or older.
In the area of education, 63,584 people were enrolled in school, with 2,660 in nursery or preschool, 2,703 in kindergarten, 22,197 in grades 1 through 8, 9,714 in high school, and 26,310 enrolled in college or graduate school. Of those 25 and older (96,154 people), 15.2 percent had less than a ninth grade education, 19 percent completed ninth to twelfth grade with no diploma, 23.1 percent were high school graduates and 13.7 percent had attended some college.
Associate degree holders accounted for 4.7 percent, while 13.1 percent hold a Bachelor’s degree and 11.3 percent earned a graduate or professional degree, All told, 65.8 percent were at least high school graduates and 24.4 percent held a Bachelor’s degree or higher.
On the marriage front, of the 135,105 people over 15, 46.3 percent have never married, 35 percent are now married, 3.6 separated, 6 percent widowed and 9 percent divorced. Of the 3,322 grandparents living with grandchildren less than 18 years old, 36.7 percent were considered the primary caregivers.
