# INTERACTIVE MAP: Median income for every neighborhood in the U.S. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 2, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874 "2013-01-02T20:21:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/21 "2013-01-02T21:57:27Z")
The site looks less than heavily useful to me. I clicked on my neighborhood and surrounding ones, and according to the site, people in my neighborhood have the same median household income as the ritzy neighbohood a few miles away where they keep horses and have slaves’ quarters. I’m not buying it. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/22 "2013-01-02T21:59:34Z")
Looking at Manhattan, it’s very, very green. Heh. Some interesting little anomalies though–e.g., the “block” of the map that includes Times Square is at the very bottom of their scale. Not many people live in that area–my guess is that it must be getting skewed by some old buildings with too many rent-controlled tenants to develop over. You can also see that the Lower East Side remains relatively poor even now. Harlem and the Bronx are striking when compared to Manhattan, or even Queens/Brooklyn. On the other side of the income distribution, the map tends to flatten things out–I’d like one that didn’t mash everything above $112K or so into one color so that I could take a close look at the Upper West Side, for example. ---
**Author:** ![ilikedata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/da6949/32.png) [@ilikedata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ilikedata)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/23 "2013-01-02T22:14:36Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > After using it for several minutes–I have no idea. The overlay uses the same color set as the underlying map, and I can’t make out the gradations. Might you be red-green colorblind? If so, everything will probably look yellowish. ---
**Author:** ![ilikedata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/da6949/32.png) [@ilikedata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ilikedata)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/24 "2013-01-02T22:16:34Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I agree. It’s spam. It would be different if a long-time poster directed us to a website he/she had found. While I disagree with what you say, I’ll fight to the death to defend your right to say it. ---
**Author:** ![ilikedata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/da6949/32.png) [@ilikedata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ilikedata)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/25 "2013-01-02T22:18:07Z")
> [@PaperBlob](#): > > I don’t care if it’s a spam post, because the website linked to is interesting. > > Anyway, if you click on a “neighborhood,” what you really are looking at is a census tract. Assuming the mapping of the tracts is accurate, what the data shows me is that for my little chunk of the world, the census tracts DO NOT correspond very well to actual neighborhoods. Not that they need to, I know. I can’t see an accurate average for MY actual neighborhood, or for some of the VERY expensive developments nearby, because it’s in the same census tract as a large retirement community, which I’m guessing is bringing the average way down. Huh, good point. I guess some of these boundaries are a bit big to be a neighborhood (especially regarding the small towns, where a tract takes up the whole town) ---
**Author:** ![andrewbub](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@andrewbub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewbub)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/26 "2013-01-02T22:21:13Z")
looking at the map of portland, OR…i can’t figure out what the point of this website is. besides exact numbers i could have drawn the same outlines for income areas in this city. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/27 "2013-01-03T00:20:45Z")
The rich people in my town are invisible, since the census tract that has all the big mansions and such also has a university with dormitories full of penniless students. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/28 "2013-01-03T00:49:38Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > Looking at Manhattan, it’s very, very green. Heh. Some interesting little anomalies though–e.g., the “block” of the map that includes Times Square is at the very bottom of their scale. Not many people live in that area–my guess is that it must be getting skewed by some old buildings with too many rent-controlled tenants to develop over. > > You can also see that the Lower East Side remains relatively poor even now. Harlem and the Bronx are striking when compared to Manhattan, or even Queens/Brooklyn. On the other side of the income distribution, the map tends to flatten things out–I’d like one that didn’t mash everything above $112K or so into one color so that I could take a close look at the Upper West Side, for example. You can also tell where the housing projects are. That was the most striking thing about my area, the drastic difference between the projects and the immediately adjacent areas. In the block by block view I can find places where one really high end apartment building is skewing the block upwards. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/29 "2013-01-03T01:10:19Z")
I don’t see any useful data here. My neighborhood is a color that falls between $23,449 and $92,476. I see no breakdown beyond the highest and lowest ranges no matter how deep I drill. Color changes yes, but no indication what that color signifies except that it’s between the two extremes. I could go to Zillow and get better data than this. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/30 "2013-01-03T01:13:36Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > I don’t see any useful data here. My neighborhood is a color that falls between $23,449 and $92,476. I see no breakdown beyond the highest and lowest ranges no matter how deep I drill. Color changes yes, but no indication what that color signifies except that it’s between the two extremes. > > I could go to Zillow and get better data than this. Are you clicking on the neighborhood itself? My neighborhood has the following numbers: Median household income: $48,456.00 (+/- $19,444.00). Which is still a bit of a range, but not the wide rage you’re seeing. Are you by any chance looking at the state median household income in the lower right corner? There I see numbers that say 23,000-106,500 or more, but that is a scale for the colors, with the red end being 23,000 and the green end representing 106,500. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/31 "2013-01-03T01:51:57Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > but not the wide rage you’re seeing Well, he might be a little miffed, but I think you’re overstating things. ---
**Author:** ![listedmia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e0b2c6/32.png) [@listedmia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/listedmia)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/32 "2013-01-03T04:47:26Z")
Around $23,000. I was already aware of that, but it’s still nice to see the surrounding neighborhoods. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/33 "2013-01-03T05:10:30Z")
I’m surrounded on 3 sides by areas with median incomes of $200k+. Huh. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/34 "2013-01-03T06:31:40Z")
Mine is red completely surrounded by green except one is yellow. Ghetto island! (Hey, I just had an idea for a new reality show.) ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/35 "2013-01-03T06:41:38Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Are you clicking on the neighborhood itself? My neighborhood has the following numbers: > > Median household income: $48,456.00 (+/- $19,444.00). > > Which is still a bit of a range, but not the wide rage you’re seeing. Are you by any chance looking at the state median household income in the lower right corner? There I see numbers that say 23,000-106,500 or more, but that is a scale for the colors, with the red end being 23,000 and the green end representing 106,500. I’ve zoomed down from state to practically house level. No numbers. Yes, I’m seeing the state median income and the color scale; that’s all I have. I am neither red nor dark green, and those are the only colors for which a value is given. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/36 "2013-01-03T06:45:52Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > I’ve zoomed down from state to practically house level. No numbers. > > Yes, I’m seeing the state median income and the color scale; that’s all I have. I am neither red nor dark green, and those are the only colors for which a value is given. Click once on the tract you want and a box pops up. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/37 "2013-01-03T07:05:33Z")
> [@ilikedata](#): > > Might you be red-green colorblind? If so, everything will probably look yellowish. No, but I suspect I live in one of the richer general areas of the country (Redmond WA, home of Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Boeing, etc. etc.), so pretty much everything’s yellow or green (there’s no red or pinks visible on the map at my zoom level), which is the same color scheme used by the underlying map without the overlay. Doesn’t matter. Other folks are finding it useful, and the fiscal cliff thing has kept Congress from voting on my “all web sites have to be customized to TimeWinder’s desires” bill, even though it’s a shoe-in. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/38 "2013-01-03T07:50:56Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > Looking at Manhattan, it’s very, very green. Heh. Some interesting little anomalies though–e.g., the “block” of the map that includes Times Square is at the very bottom of their scale. Not many people live in that area–my guess is that it must be getting skewed by some old buildings with too many rent-controlled tenants to develop over. Even weirder than that is the little red block to the east of Times Square near Grand Central. It says the median income is just $9,750. The hell? ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/39 "2013-01-03T14:15:25Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Even weirder than that is the little red block to the east of Times Square near Grand Central. It says the median income is just $9,750. The hell? That’s definitely an odd one. +/- $59,055, no less, so some poor souls there are making -$49,305/yr! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874/40 "2013-01-03T15:01:41Z")
Here is a [page](http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer) from the New York Times website that provides detailed maps about household income, changes in income, race and ethnicity, home values and educational achievement. This data is from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data from 2005-2009. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interactive-map-median-income-for-every-neighborhood-in-the-u-s/645874.md?page=3)