Census: Household Income & Changes
By Barry Ritholtz - December 15th, 2010, 12:15PM
A pair of fascinating NYT/Census/Google map mash ups from the NYT this morning. Using US Census data, they look at a variety of data points: Race & Ethnicity, Income, Housing and Families, Education.
Click the link, then select View More Maps, choose topic:
click for full interactive versions
>
Median Household Income
Change in Median Household Income
>
Here is the amazing full project of The New York Times with United States census :
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December 15th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
The change in medium household income map tells you all you need to know about the current state of the economy in Michigan (my home state). Even some areas that were not doing well declined. Few states experienced such a uniform impact throughout.
December 15th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Washington DC continues to advance in attracting the richest and most educated (note that I did not say ‘the best and the brightest’).
This is human talent which is not being utilized in making the US more productive and competitive. And it shows, as the economy continues to decay in the shadows of the white marble imperial capital.
December 15th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
What is in the Dakotas and Wyoming that they are minting money? Commodities? Coal?
December 15th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Curious as to what is driving 10 -20 percent increases in income in large swaths of northern Montana and western North Dakota. Energy? Mining? Too cold for retirees moving to those areas.
December 15th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Bakken shale? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakken_Formation. Looks about right.
December 15th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
It is because of the oil and natural gas drilling and pipeline construction. It’s next to impossible to find an apartment or hotel room over there. The farmers have also had a good year for wheat and sugar beets.
December 15th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
guessing the big increases in incomes in Montana and North Dakota are because of oil and gas. there have been some new fields found in that general area. and we can’t forget that there are lots of well paid lobbyists in DC. wondering if some of the areas that are more rural aren’t getting a boost in the cost of food? and some may have also gotten a boost from the ethanol scam too (notice they don’t have any gas stations selling it. they don’t want it. they do want us to buy it though!)
December 15th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Let’s also not forget about how many credit card companies are located in South Dakota. That’s big business out there.
To me, there could be a big real estate boom coming in some of those Western states like Wyoming/Montana/Idaho if the oil business does what they say they’re going to do (with regard to developing shale into usable oil). Still, the extremes of weather makes it not such a nice place to yours truly…
December 15th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Are there any military bases in that area? With the money flowing through that ‘industry’ that could also be where some of the income increase is coming from
December 15th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
@ Common Man
Minot AFB ? Also Like your Fact sheet… :-)
December 15th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
That’s what I hate about google. They crawl in your guts and poke around but looking at the data is so completely compelling.
They have the nature of sin nailed
December 15th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
You have to be careful with “Household Income” as a metric.
Earlier this decade, when ‘Household Income’ was rising, David S. Johnson, the chief of the Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division at the Census Bureau, reported that at the same time actual real wages and salaries were declining.
He provided the example that a household could have added a part-time worker, thereby raising the income of the household, while simultaneously bringing down the median wage. The trend of so many adult children moving back home after college because they are unable to find other than minimum wage jobs will further skew the numbers.
Another example is of a couple that increased their ‘Household Income’ but by working double the number of hours, while reducing their median wage. His original income was $100,00 annually, and his spouse was a homemaker. He lost his job, and his new one only pays $75,000 and his wife now works full time earning $45,000 annually. ‘Household Income’ up, real wages per hour worked down.
December 15th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
not my jokes sarge? ;)
December 15th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
Wyoming and the Dakotas have very low unemployment and that would put upwards pressure on wages.
December 15th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Run the % of income map – note that almost ALL of the areas where the % household income is above $200,000 are around DC & NYC – money and gov’t centers. This goes a long way to explaining the decisions made that effect the rest of us. They have lost touch with average American.
December 15th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
I noticed the very same thing, SCTTD. Not at all surprising though, when you think about it. And the ongoing disconnect between those in our financial and DC bubbles and the rest of the country is not that surprising either.
December 15th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
There is a huge oil boom right now in western ND. Housing is insane out there right now. I was in Minot over the summer and it seemed that 1 out of every 10 cars was from out of state, which is pretty crazy for the area. The oil boom is also why ND is running a huge surplus right now.
December 15th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
KJMClark Says:
x2
+ C. +W. Pennsylvania will look that way on ‘the next map’ ..
http://search.yippy.com/search?input-form=clusty-simple&v%3Asources=webplus&v%3Aproject=clusty&query=Marcellus+Shale
“Peak Oil” is/was an incredible Hoax..
December 15th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
also, re: ND & MT, it’s too bad that this Map doesn’t go further North..
similar effect http://search.yippy.com/search?input-form=clusty-simple&v%3Asources=webplus&v%3Aproject=clusty&query=Hoffer%2C+Saskatchewan+Bakken+Shale
December 15th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
It would be interesting to map the percent increase in per capita income over the 20th century in the US. Some areas like the copper country in michigans UP would show a century decline, as I suspect would Northeast Indiana (used to lead in electrical stuff).
December 15th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Was there not a disconnect between ancient Rome at it’s highest and the rest of the countrymen? The paralells continue. The unfortunate fall is imminent. It might not happen in our lifetimes, though the rate of decay certainly seems to have picked up pace in the past 30 years.
December 15th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
OT: A comment on Zero Hedge-
by Sancho Ponzi
on Wed, 12/15/2010 – 16:50
#809579
Denninger just posted a thread ‘FBI Outed Breaking Into The US Internet’, and now his site is down.
Oops
December 16th, 2010 at 5:54 am
On a broader note, this may have a little something to do with it:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/whats-good-for-ceos-is-good-for-usa.html
December 16th, 2010 at 11:35 am
They stole my idea! :-P
http://www.overviewecon.com
My day job has been interfering with my continued work on my nation-wide census maps. These are all hand-coded from scratch, running on javascript/html, python and sqlite.