Thursday, December 20, 2018

America's Richest Neighborhoods


Bloomberg has been busy mapping where America's richest people live. Using data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey they have mapped out the neighborhoods which are attracting America's highest earners.

Americans Earning Over $200,000 Are Flocking to These Neighborhoods includes a map showing the concentration of households earning $200,000 or more in each county. Bloomberg has also mapped the 100 neighborhoods which have seem the highest growth in high earners since 2000.

The census tract which has seen the highest growth of households earning $200,000 is in Cook County, Illinois. Four of the top ten census tracts showing an increase in high earners are in commuting distance of Washington DC. According to Bloomberg in some of these areas "around half of households earn more than $200,000".


The Bloomberg article points out that the income divide in the USA is the largest it has been since 1960. This income gap is starkly illustrated in an Esri powered interactive map. The Income Extremes for Wealth Divide interactive map shows the richest and poorest households in each census tract area in the United States. The map visualizes two dot map layers showing the number of households earning over $200,000 and the number of households earning under $25,000. The result is a map which clearly shows the income divide in American towns and cities.

If you select a census tract on the map an information window opens displaying the tract's population and number of households. It also informs you about the number of households in the census tract which have an income greater than $200,000 and the number of households which have an income less than $25,000. The yellow and blue dots don't show the exact addresses of households but are randomized within each census tract area.

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