Our journey through the most-recent data released by the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey continues with a look at median household income across all of Texas.
Readers may remember Austin Business Journal's most-recent Texas-wide map, which examined how median home value estimates are changing in each Census tract throughout the Lone Star state.
But this map takes a more granular approach by examining median household income by Census block group. Block groups are smaller than Census tracts, which typically contain between two to four block groups. According to the Census Bureau, each block group has between 250 and 550 households, and Census guidelines state the ideal size of a block group is 400 households. In terms of sample size, it's one of the more uniform demographic samples produced by the Census Bureau.
With samples that small, block-group-level data can provide particularly valuable, neighborhood-scale business intelligence for a number of industries such as real estate and marketing.
This map, embedded below the article, colors each of Texas 15,811 Census block groups from light green to dark green based on median household income as recorded by the American Community Survey's Five-Year Estimates data series for 2013, released this past December. The darker the green, the higher the median household income is. Clicking within a block group will pop open a window showing its median household income statistics.
If you're viewing this article on a smartphone, you can see the map by clicking the "view full page" link below the article.
Another note about the map: don't zoom out too far. Due to the sheer number of block groups involved, Google – which powers these maps – will not render smaller block groups at certain, distant zoom levels. If this happens to you, just zoom in a bit and the map will fill back in. (Story continued on next page)
The average median annual household income for all census block groups across Texas is roughly $55,200.
It's hard to say, specifically, which block group has the highest or lowest median household income on this map. The American Community Survey caps its median household income estimates at $250,000 or more on the high end, and $2,500 or less on the low end. There's only one block group that reaches the low end of that scale, Block Group 1 in Waco, immediately adjacent to Baylor University. On the far distant side of that spectrum are a set of 30 block groups where the Census statisticians found median annual incomes of $250,000 or more.
The lion's share of those are scattered around Dallas and Houston, which many high-profile oil, gas and energy executives call home. Houston, in particular, has an obvious belt of suburban affluence that almost completely encircles a central city that, for the most part, lives on much more modest annual household earnings, with the significant exception being the ultra-wealthy areas immediately west of downtown Houston. And while Houston has a belt of affluence, Dallas could be said to have an affluence hat, with that city's best-heeled neighborhoods clustered in the suburbs north of downtown.
Austin and San Antonio have their own pockets of affluence as well, particularly west of I-35. The interstate serves as a de facto dividing line between the more and less affluent that stretches all the way from Pflugerville to downtown San Antonio.
Michael Theis is the Austin Business Journal's digital editor.
Readers may remember Austin Business Journal's most-recent Texas-wide map, which examined how median home value estimates are changing in each Census tract throughout the Lone Star state.
But this map takes a more granular approach by examining median household income by Census block group. Block groups are smaller than Census tracts, which typically contain between two to four block groups. According to the Census Bureau, each block group has between 250 and 550 households, and Census guidelines state the ideal size of a block group is 400 households. In terms of sample size, it's one of the more uniform demographic samples produced by the Census Bureau.
With samples that small, block-group-level data can provide particularly valuable, neighborhood-scale business intelligence for a number of industries such as real estate and marketing.
This map, embedded below the article, colors each of Texas 15,811 Census block groups from light green to dark green based on median household income as recorded by the American Community Survey's Five-Year Estimates data series for 2013, released this past December. The darker the green, the higher the median household income is. Clicking within a block group will pop open a window showing its median household income statistics.
If you're viewing this article on a smartphone, you can see the map by clicking the "view full page" link below the article.
Another note about the map: don't zoom out too far. Due to the sheer number of block groups involved, Google – which powers these maps – will not render smaller block groups at certain, distant zoom levels. If this happens to you, just zoom in a bit and the map will fill back in. (Story continued on next page)
The average median annual household income for all census block groups across Texas is roughly $55,200.
It's hard to say, specifically, which block group has the highest or lowest median household income on this map. The American Community Survey caps its median household income estimates at $250,000 or more on the high end, and $2,500 or less on the low end. There's only one block group that reaches the low end of that scale, Block Group 1 in Waco, immediately adjacent to Baylor University. On the far distant side of that spectrum are a set of 30 block groups where the Census statisticians found median annual incomes of $250,000 or more.
The lion's share of those are scattered around Dallas and Houston, which many high-profile oil, gas and energy executives call home. Houston, in particular, has an obvious belt of suburban affluence that almost completely encircles a central city that, for the most part, lives on much more modest annual household earnings, with the significant exception being the ultra-wealthy areas immediately west of downtown Houston. And while Houston has a belt of affluence, Dallas could be said to have an affluence hat, with that city's best-heeled neighborhoods clustered in the suburbs north of downtown.
Austin and San Antonio have their own pockets of affluence as well, particularly west of I-35. The interstate serves as a de facto dividing line between the more and less affluent that stretches all the way from Pflugerville to downtown San Antonio.
Michael Theis is the Austin Business Journal's digital editor.
No comments:
Post a Comment