Tag Archives: People

US Hispanic Population

Posted on by under Demography

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The map on the left displays the Hispanic percentage for each US state in 1940. Contrast that with the map on the right displaying the Hispanic percentage for each US state in 2010. The Hispanic population in 1940 was mostly concentrated in the southwest border states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, but over the next 70 years, migration and birth rates spread the population throughout the entire southwest, west coast, and major cities on the east coast. New Mexico continues to be the US state with the highest concentration of Hispanic population with 41% in 1940 to 46% in 2010. Nationwide the Hispanic population has increased dramatically over the past 70 years – from around 1.4% in 1940 to 16.3% in 2010!

US African American Percentage

Posted on by under Demography

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The map on the left displays the African American percentage for each US state in 1910. Contrast that with the map on the right displaying the African American percentage for each US state in 2010. The African American population in 1910 was very concentrated in the southeast, but over the next 100 years migration spread up the east coast and into the midwest – this distributing the population more evenly in the eastern half of the US. It is interesting to note that every state in the western US (was in 1910 and remains to be in 2010) below the national average in African American population. Mississippi continues to be the US state with the highest concentration of American Americans but has decreased from 56% in 1910 to 37% in 2010. Nationwide the African American population has remained stable over the past 100 years -from around 10.7% in 1910 to 12.6% in 2010.

Coastal Population

Posted on by under Demography

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Above is a map comparing the population all of the United States coastal counties (counties boarding the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans) to the same population of counties from mid-point of the US spreading out. The map above has equal population – 104 million to 104 million. The area (in square miles) of the middle counties is 6.5 times the area of the coastal counties.

Trumpland and Clinton Islands

Posted on by under Demography, Politics

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It’s informative to display how small of the country, by area, Hilary Clinton won in the 2016 Presidental Election. Above is a map of the regions of the country Hilary won (Clinton Islands) and below is the area of the country Trump won (Trumpland). Given the area difference alone, it appears that Trump won in a landslide, however, in fact, he lost the popular vote by more than 2% to Clinton! This is due to the large differences in population density each candidate won – put simply, Clinton won in the cities and Trump won in the rural areas. The highest percentage Trump supporting region was the central plans while the largest Clinton supporting regions were the San Francisco Bay Area and eastern seaboard running from Washington DC to Boston.

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US Income Inequality 1970-2010

Posted on by under Demography, Economics

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There is increased attention focused on US income inequality in recent years. It remains a challenge to isolate different contributing factors for this inequality growth over the past generation although some reasons have been cited, such as: increased trade with developing countries, increased income for those with university degrees (only around 30% of the US population), increased role of technology in the economy, etc. This post will not dive into trying to uncover why income inequality is happening, but rather, how the various income groups have been affected since 1970.

Above is a chart displaying the US population grouped into five income brackets. What is clear from the data is for the bottom 80% of US income earners, all groups are receiving a smaller share of total US income than compared to 1970 and 1990. Meanwhile, across this same period, the highest fifth of income-earners in the US have received an increasing share of income compensation – from 43.3% in 1970 to 46.6% in 1990 to 50.3 percent in 2010.

Although, to play devil’s advocate, what makes this issue even more complicated is that individuals are not in the same group over time, it is hard to factor in changes in the quality of goods, or even, the modern luxuries of goods that didn’t even exist 40 years ago such as the internet, smart phones, laptop computers, etc. Even though the percentage of income the bottom 80% of income earners is responsible for has decreased over the period, it’s clear that they are living better lives considering all the improvements in technology, safety, and healthcare.

US Income Distribution 2015

Posted on by under Demography, Economics

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Income data from the 2015 US census reveals some insight. 39% of all households had two or more income earners resulting in 25% of households having a combined income above $100k. Meanwhile, only 9% of US workers (population age 15 or older) have individual incomes over $100k. These high earners are typically associated with high education levels as half of all people with graduate degrees are also among the top 15% of income earners (individual incomes greater than $75k).

In 2015, US median personal income was $30k and the mean personal income was $44k. For the US population aged 15 and above, 43% make less than $25k, 70% make less than $50k, 84% make less than $75k, and 91% make less than $100k. Similar data is displayed in the bar chart above – one chart shows the distribution for ages 25 through 64 and the other for ages 25 and above.

Who Moves? Who Stays?

Posted on by under Demography

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Recent data from the Pew Research Center gives insight into the demographic profile of US citizens and their moving behavior relative to age, location, and education level. Some highlights: 37% of people have never lived outside their hometowns, 57% of adults have never lived outside their home state, and on the opposite side of the spectrum, only 15% of people have lived in four or more states. The effect of college is a significant difference between ‘movers’ and ‘stayers’ – 77% of college graduates have changed communities at least once compared to only 56% for high school graduates.

The above graph shows the age profile for movers. Most movers are between the age of 18 and 35. There is an initial peak at 18 years old as a large portion of people leave high school for college and there is an even higher peak for movement post college graduation. The most likely age someone will move is around 24 years old – about 37% of people change locations at this age. The graph below shows the net regional US migration patterns in 2007. The South and West are making the largest population gains at the expense of the Northeast and Midwest.

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Bay Area Median Home Price 2016

Posted on by under Demography, Economics

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The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most expensive places to live in the United States. The map above displays the median home price for the top 30 most populated cities in the Bay Area. The larger the bubble, the higher the median home price. The bubbles are also color coded – Red the highest 20%, Orange the next 20%, then Green, Blue, and Purple the lowest 20% by median home price.

Regionally, the cities comprising Silicon Valley are the most expensive and the cities in the northeastern bay are the cheapest. In order, the most expensive cities in the bay area by median home price (via Zillow) as of 2016: Palo Alto at 2.5 million, Cupertino 1.8 million, Mountain View 1.4 million, Sunnyvale 1.4 million, Redwood City 1.3 million, San Mateo 1.1 million, and San Francisco 1.1 million.

The most affordable housing in the Bay Area (of the top 30 by population) are: Richmond 411k, Vacaville 391k, Fairfield 390k, Antioch 364k, Pittsburg 357k, and Vallejo 326k.

Canada’s Immigration

Posted on by under Demography

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Above is a graphic displaying Canada’s foreign-born population by decade ranging from 1871 through 2011. The size of the bubbles below the graphic display the number of total migrants arriving in millions by decade. Broadly speaking, Canada’s immigration has occurred in three waves. First, a British Isles majority wave from 1871 till the mid-1900’s,  second, a European majority wave from the mid-1900’s through 1990, and third, an Asian majority wave from 1990 running through the present.