2004 Presidential Results of the wealthiest county in each state

[nclib]

This map shows the results of the wealthiest county in each state:

This map compares the results of each state vs. its wealthiest county. (i.e. red = county is more Democratic than the state)

Comments, anyone?

[Bacon King]

What measurement did you use to determine wealth?

[nclib]

Per capita income.

[nclib]

http://www.census.gov/statab/ccdb/tst08030.txt

This is a bit old, but it probably hasn't changed that much.

[bullmoose88]

Perhaps just as good of a marker would be to use the say top 3 or 5 wealthiest counties in each state...if such data is neatly displayed.

[Alcon]

Interesting.

PCI also tends to help counties with few children.

[opebo]

What are the electoral vote results on that first map?  Btw, very interesting.

[Gabu]

I'd be interested to see a similar map of the poorest county in each state (perhaps with shading, since I'd imagine it'd be a giant sea of red for the most part).

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I don't really think that per-capita income is a good measure of how wealthy a given area is; I think on per-capita income, the wealthiest county in NY is New York (Manhtten) ? Which is an absurdity when you consider quite how poor large tracts of the borough are (in both relative and *absolute* terms).
IMO a wealthy area shouldn't include large numbers of poor (or even working class!) people.

[Verily]

I don't really think that per-capita income is a good measure of how wealthy a given area is; I think on per-capita income, the wealthiest county in NY is New York (Manhtten) ? Which is an absurdity when you consider quite how poor large tracts of the borough are (in both relative and *absolute* terms).
IMO a wealthy area shouldn't include large numbers of poor (or even working class!) people.

Well, then you're going to have a great deal of difficulty with some states; looking at that list, many states' highest per capita income counties are below the national average (~$35,000)!

[nclib]

What are the electoral vote results on that first map?  Btw, very interesting.

Dem 278
GOP 257
Unknown (Alaska) 3

It is interesting how the Dems won this hypothetical map, while losing the actual EC.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I don't really think that per-capita income is a good measure of how wealthy a given area is; I think on per-capita income, the wealthiest county in NY is New York (Manhtten) ? Which is an absurdity when you consider quite how poor large tracts of the borough are (in both relative and *absolute* terms).
IMO a wealthy area shouldn't include large numbers of poor (or even working class!) people.

Well, then you're going to have a great deal of difficulty with some states; looking at that list, many states' highest per capita income counties are below the national average (~$35,000)!

Affluence is (up to a point) relative.

[nclib]

I'd be interested to see a similar map of the poorest county in each state (perhaps with shading, since I'd imagine it'd be a giant sea of red for the most part).

I couldn't easily find the poorest county in each state; however, I made a map of the county with the highest unemployment rate, in each state.

Note: In Nebraska, two counties tied (one went for Kerry, the other for Bush)

In NY, two counties tied (both went for Bush)

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I'd imagine it'd be a giant sea of red for the most part

Yeah, I was surprised too. Perhaps this map shows that most poor counties are rural, and most rural counties voted for Bush.

[12th Doctor]

What are the electoral vote results on that first map?  Btw, very interesting.

Dem 278
GOP 257
Unknown (Alaska) 3

It is interesting how the Dems won this hypothetical map, while losing the actual EC.

Proof of the fact that, if only the wealthy voted, the Democrats would win almost every election.

And yes, I am only being half serious.  The map is probably slightly ascewed in more than a few places due to cost of living differences, as Al pointed out.

[Alcon]

Image Link

This is poorest PCI.  A lot of states are missing because Wikipedia didn't have the info.

[nclib]

Alcon, what year is that poorest PCI from?

[Alcon]

Alcon, what year is that poorest PCI from?

1999 Census

[opebo]

I don't really think that per-capita income is a good measure of how wealthy a given area is; I think on per-capita income, the wealthiest county in NY is New York (Manhtten) ? Which is an absurdity when you consider quite how poor large tracts of the borough are (in both relative and *absolute* terms).
IMO a wealthy area shouldn't include large numbers of poor (or even working class!) people.

The percentage of poor in Manhattan is much lower than in rural areas, or even in Brooklyn, even if you adjust for cost of living. 

The thing about wealthy areas like what you looking for - consistently wealthy - is they're too small to cover a whole county.  That's like saying Surrey is the wealthiest county in England, but I'm sure it contains many workers as well.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The percentage of poor in Manhattan is much lower than in rural areas, or even in Brooklyn, even if you adjust for cost of living.

Of course it's lower than in Brooklyn; but that's not exactly hard. But in Manhatten 17.6% of families live below the poverty line (2000 Census). Compared with 9.2% nationally. That's rather high.

But here's the problem in Manhatten; in 2000 as much as 9% of households earned over $200,000 a year. Meanwhile, as much as 14% earned under $10,000.

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That depends how you define wealthy doesn't it?

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Surrey is certainly the wealthiest county in England. There are a few pockets which can't be described as wealthy o/c (though that's really all they are; pockets) and some areas are richer than others. But it's not really comparable with, say, Manhatten as far as this goes. A better comparision would be with somewhere like Islington; which has one of the highest average wages in the U.K, but some of the highest IMD (ie; deprivation) figures also.

[Gabu]

Image Link

This is poorest PCI.  A lot of states are missing because Wikipedia didn't have the info.

That looks roughly as expected.

[nclib]

I just made two maps regarding the 2004 results of the most densely populated county in each state.

The first one indicates the results by percentage:

The second map compares the most densely populated county with the rest of the state. (Red = county is more Democratic than the state average; Blue = county is more Republican than the state average):

[DownWithTheLeft]

Funny that Blaine is the only county in Idaho I believe that voted Dem and it is the richest

[Alcon]

Funny that Blaine is the only county in Idaho I believe that voted Dem and it is the richest

It's a ski resort county.  The same thing also happened with Wyoming (Jackson).  Ski counties were also the top income earners in Colorado (Pitkin) and Utah (Summit).

[nclib]

Funny that Blaine is the only county in Idaho I believe that voted Dem and it is the richest

It's a ski resort county.  The same thing also happened with Wyoming (Jackson).  Ski counties were also the top income earners in Colorado (Pitkin) and Utah (Summit).

Isn't Wyoming actually Teton County? (Jackson is the city)

Anyhow, in addition to being the top income earners, they were also the most Democratic in Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah, with Pitkin being Colorado's third most Democratic county.

[Alcon]

Funny that Blaine is the only county in Idaho I believe that voted Dem and it is the richest

It's a ski resort county.  The same thing also happened with Wyoming (Jackson).  Ski counties were also the top income earners in Colorado (Pitkin) and Utah (Summit).

Isn't Wyoming actually Teton County? (Jackson is the city)

Anyhow, in addition to being the top income earners, they were also the most Democratic in Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah, with Pitkin being Colorado's third most Democratic county.

Sorry, yeah.

Ski areas tend to have high PCIs because they tend to have a lot of fairly well-off singles.