Via Jim Henley, a fun website that gives you a demographic profile of your ZIP code. Here's 20009 where I live, though in some ways my block strikes me as more typical of the neighboring 20001 ZIP code where my previous house (just three blocks away) was.
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ZIPskinny
07 Oct 2007 08:53 am
Comments (14)
The thing that struck me is the huge gap between the "% unemployed" and the "% below poverty line." In my zip, the gap is 4% unemployment to 26% below poverty line.
As I understand it, the US government is arguing that 22% of my neighbors are extremely poor but not "willing and able" to get work, or "employed" at jobs that can't get them across the poverty line. Sometimes it takes raw numbers to drive home how sick our economy is, and how sick the people who "objectively" measure it can be.
Actually, you can just go to the census bureau's website (http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en) and find all this stuff and even more about every zip code. In fact, you can find stats for areas smaller than zip codes called "census tracts". This info is beloved by direct mail outfits.
Interesting, if unoriginal site. The census site contains more in-depth data for sip codes as well as census tracts. Although I must say that the below/above average and corresponding red/green highlights were a nice visual indicator for ZIPskinny.
By the way, welcome to the neighbourhood!
Interesting, if unoriginal site. The census site contains more in-depth data for zip codes as well as census tracts. Although I must say that the below/above average and corresponding red/green highlights were a nice visual indicator for ZIPskinny.
By the way, welcome to the neighbourhood!
There's a DC-area company, Claritas, that aggregates and sells demographic info. And they have a You Are Where You Live website that lets you enter zipcodes to snoop on your neighbor's demographics.
My ZIP code (80305) isn't in there. Yes, it's relatively new, but it has existed for 6 years. I had to go with the old 80303 code, which is much less affluent (but still above average). The same was true about the Census Bureau site. I feel left out.
I don't know about the poverty line numbers; any college campus looks to have tons of poverty-stricken individuals.
Fostert, the census was in 2000. Your zip will be included in the 2010 census.
Matt, you might also try this (much better) site:
http://www.socialexplorer.com/pub/home/home.aspx
As to the college campuses--they are tricky demographic areas. I noticed that the U of MN campus has both one of the highest median incomes and the highest poverty rates. Not surprising in Minneapolis, where the campus is, on one side, tucked up against the last of the high-rise poverty palaces & on the others against highly-renovated areas close to downtown.
What's also interesting is how different the feel of actual neighborhoods (sub-zip) are from the impression you'd get from looking at this data. The Social Explorer site goes sub-zip, so it gives a better presentation, but even there: I know where the poor, the wealthy, etcetera live in my 'hood--which are the problem houses or problem blocks.
Just one more reason, I suppose, why getting involved locally matters--you know what your neighborhood needs: if you don't act, others must guess.
wow & thanks. (BTW, my "household" was selected to participate in one of those long forms, but just kept throwing it away and missing the enforcement agent's visits--wonder how well they handled that problem.)
claritas, a market research and site analysis data provider, lets you run several qualitative market segmentation analyses based on zip code at this link:
http://www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments/Default.jsp
It just so happens that the primary analysis package (Prizm NE) lists the "Young Digerati" as a small but significant component of 20009. These Yglesias clones and wannabes are described as "the nation's tech-savvy singles and couples living in fashionable neighborhoods on the urban fringe. Affluent, highly educated and ethnically mixed, Young Digerati communities are typically filled with trendy apartments and condos, fitness clubs and clothing boutiques, casual restaurants and all types of bars--from juice to coffee to microbrew."
Check out city-data.com
The "compare" feature is also fun. I learned that my exurban PA zip code where I grew up is 91% white, as compared to 20010, where I live now, which is 15% white.
Comments closed October 21, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
Thanks. Great website.
Michael
Posted by Michael | October 7, 2007 10:00 AM