Poverty line maps

[Joe Republic]

Whoa, good work, Fezzy!

Orange County, CA, is a little surprising.

[Jaggerjack]

Whoa, good work, Fezzy!

Orange County, CA, is a little surprising.

Ditto. Though, I'm not really suprised about Alameda; we have Oakland here. What I AM suprised about though, is Santa Clara. I always thought San Jose was full of dirt-poor immigrants from Latin America and Vietnam.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Whoa, good work, Fezzy!

Orange County, CA, is a little surprising.

Why? Are you really naive enough to believe it doesn't have lots of poor Hispanic immigrants?

[Colin]

I never noticed that New Mexico and Arizona were that poor. They're two of four states that have no county with less than a 10% poverty rate. Arizona was the more shocking of the two, I was expecting with the amount of development in the Phoenix area at least one county would be green.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I never noticed that New Mexico and Arizona were that poor. They're two of four states that have no county with less than a 10% poverty rate. Arizona was the more shocking of the two, I was expecting with the amount of development in the Phoenix area at least one county would be green.

Which just goes to show why you should be careful of a map with only three colours/shades; poverty rates in Arizona are about the same as the U.S average (ever-so-slightly-higher due to the rez's o/c).

Surprised that you're surprised at New Mexico though.

[nclib]

I never noticed that New Mexico and Arizona were that poor. They're two of four states that have no county with less than a 10% poverty rate.

If Los Alamos counts as a county, then NM has one green. But Arizona is surprising to be with only LA and WV in having no green counties.

Anyhow, Fezzy, good work, and what year is this from?

[Colin]

I never noticed that New Mexico and Arizona were that poor. They're two of four states that have no county with less than a 10% poverty rate. Arizona was the more shocking of the two, I was expecting with the amount of development in the Phoenix area at least one county would be green.

Which just goes to show why you should be careful of a map with only three colours/shades; poverty rates in Arizona are about the same as the U.S average (ever-so-slightly-higher due to the rez's o/c).

True but still I was expecting some of the counties surrounding Phoenix to be green.

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Well I remember WMS saying something about the poverty in NM a while back but really I've never done much digging into the demographics of New Mexico, though with high hispanic and Indian populations I really shouldn't be suprised. I just didn't expect it to be near the same level as Louisiana poverty wise.

[??????????]

Polk County better then Hillsborough? Interesting.

[Gabu]

I find it interesting that the so-called Rust Belt, which is stereotypically categorized as having tons of blue-collar workers and such, is actually one of the least impoverished places in the country.

Also, I knew the Deep South was in dire straits, but... yikes.

[Verily]

My county, Somerset, has the lowest in the country for a county with a population of over 250,000.

Union County is less than 9% even with Elizabeth and Linden and all that? That's surprising.

Anyone know what makes Menominee County so much poorer than the rest of Wisconsin (even the surrounding counties)?

Edit: Never mind, I found why. It's a mostly Native American county.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Arizona has tons of poor Hispanics. It makes perfect sense.

[opebo]

I find it interesting that the so-called Rust Belt, which is stereotypically categorized as having tons of blue-collar workers and such, is actually one of the least impoverished places in the country.

Also, I knew the Deep South was in dire straits, but... yikes.

Unionized blue collar workers make several times the poverty line, Gabu (keeping in mind that the gov't defines poverty at an absurdly low income).

In fact, unionization is the primary way that poverty among the white working class was reduced in America during the Keynesian period (government subsidies like home loans, student loans, etc. being the other). 

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Well really, Arizona poverty rates are about 2% higher than the national average.

0.7% (or 0.9%) according to ACS, 0.7% (or 1.5%) in the 2000 Census.

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Obviously the sheer size of Maricopa county distorts the picture in Arizona rather a lot, but I stand by my point about only using a few colours. Think about it.

[minionofmidas]

I find it interesting that the so-called Rust Belt, which is stereotypically categorized as having tons of blue-collar workers and such, is actually one of the least impoverished places in the country.

If you're over 60 and living in a quintessential rustbelt town (think Michigan, not West Virginia), chances are that you've done a blue-collar job but made a white-collar income for the last 40 years of your worklife.

[7,052,770]

The MS map is proof that Madison the city should be separate from Madison County.  We're only 2.1% below the poverty line in our glorious city, and are surely singlehandedly preventing the county from being red.

[nclib]

I looked up the (poverty) colors for Kerry's 100 best counties:

Red 62
Yellow 24
Green 14

Does anyone know how this compares to the poverty distribution nationwide, or to Bush's 100 best counties (if there is such a list)?

My guess would be that for Kerry's 100 best counties, "reds" and "greens" are over-represented and "yellows" are under-represented.

[jimrtex]

Poverty statistics can be misleading because they are not regionally adjusted, and the largest expense, housing, has the greatest variation.