Demographics
As of the 2000 Census,GR2 there were 478,403 people, 190,638 households, and 111,904 families residing in the city. The population density was 6,166.5 people per square mile (2,380.9/km²). There were 215,856 housing units at an average density of 2,782.4 per square mile (1,074.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 50.99 percent Black or African American, 41.49 percent White, 1.35 percent Asian, 0.30 percent Native American, 0.04 percent Pacific Islander, 3.59 percent from other races, and 2.24 percent from two or more races. 7.26 percent of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. Ethnic groups include Germans (9.2 percent), Irish (8.2 percent ), Poles (4.8 percent), Italians (4.6 percent), and English (2.8 percent). There are also substantial communities of Hungarians, Arabs (mostly Maronite Christians and Sunni Muslims), Romanians, Czechs, Slovaks, Greeks, Ukrainians, Albanians, Croats, Serbs, Lithuanians, Slovenians, Koreans, and Han Chinese. The presence of Hungarians within the Cleveland proper was so great that the city once boasted the highest concentration of Hungarians in the world outside of Budapest.
There were 190,638 households out of which 29.9 percent have children under the age of 18 living with them, 28.5 percent were married couples living together, 24.8 percent had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.3 percent were nonfamilies. 35.2 percent of all households were made up of individuals and 11.1 percent had someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.19. The population was spread out with 28.5 percent under the age of 18, 9.5 percent from 18 to 24, 30.4 percent from 25 to 44, 19.0 percent from 45 to 64, and 12.5 percent who are 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 90.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.2 males
The median income for a household in the city was $25,928, and the median income for a family was $30,286. Males had a median income of $30,610 versus $24,214 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,291. 26.3 percent of the population and 22.9 percent of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 37.6 percent of those under the age of 18 and 16.8 percent of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
Cleveland was hit hard in the 1960s and early 1970s by white flight and suburbanization, further exacerbated by the busing-based desegregation of Cleveland schools required by the United States Supreme Court. Although busing ended in the 1990s, Cleveland continued to slide into poverty, reaching a nadir in 2004 when it was named the poorest major city in the United States. Cleveland was again rated the poorest major city in the U.S. in 2006, with a poverty rate of 32.4 percent.
(Source: Wikipedia.org)
