Thanks for posting! I'd love to know your research methods as well.

This is great. It would be interesting to see how 2008 changed this data.

The data you are looking for can be found at census.gov. There are many different tools, views, screen, and mapping tools that be used to harvest data -- hours of fun for the statistic and sociology nerd.  

As a librarian instructor I like to make it a point to compare household incomes and educations between North End, Billings Park, Hillside, Lester Park, Spirit Valley, and then Madison, Minneapolis, and Wayzata -- this gives students a many different views of social classes and perceptions of poverty and wealth.  Great for discussions.

How about "Socio-Economic Reality in Duluth"

One other quibble is how does this map show "racial segregation"? Aside from those nitpicky items, I love the map and would love to see more. (the BWCAW entry map is simple yet incredibly useful!)

Paul, very good point! I bet the map would look different now using 2010 Census data. Still, though, it seems that the number of low-income and no-income people living downtown (in the Tri-towers, Gateway tower, and all the row housing) is still significantly higher than the number of people living in upscale condos. Also, Canal Park is in the same Census Block Group as the west half of "old" downtown, which is probably another reason why it appears to be so low.

Iron Oregon, I definitely see your point. I just feel like saying Mapping Inequality in Duluth is much more eye catching than the generic title. Plus, it's shorter too, so it only takes up one line.

Barrett, I don't know if there is a "story" behind it lol. But that chunk you're referring to is mostly in the Duluth Heights neighborhood actually, not Hermantown. I just set the parameters to highlight any census block group that has less than 90% white people, and that is what the data showed.

I should probably add street labels to this map at some point. I know it can be hard to read without them, unless you're a total nerd like me. The default GIS labels just looked so crappy that I couldn't bear to leave them on.

But, in response to your comment, Jessige, that area is actually mostly over the Duluth Heights neighborhood. It is a single census block group bordered by Arrowhead Rd to the North, Maple Grove Rd to the South, Swan Lake Rd to the East, and Haines Rd/Hwy 53 to the West.

There are apartments above the Green Mill and some others above the buildings next to the Toga. The residents of these are far from wealthy.

I'd be interested to see a map indicating the dog population of various neighborhoods, then layering that on the income map.  Then, if we could see a map of Surly drinkers compared to Miller Lite drinkers and layered on the income map.  Inquiring minds want to know!

Income inequality is a well known indicator of social health.  Nothing wrong with the term.

I mean Duluth Heights.

Not to criticize a fine effort, but it leaves me wishing for finer-grained data--I'd love to see a data-driven analysis of wildgoose's effort to define the true borders of "Cake Eater Country" from a few years back.

Why is that sad?

When Bill Gates walks into a bar, the average income among the patrons is in the millions of dollars, no?

Retiring when you're old. Paying for your own education and perhaps that of your kids. Buying a house without government assistance. Decent medical care. Providing your family a healthy diet of fresh foods as opposed to sodium and presevative-laden food from cans and boxes. Are these "basic needs?" Should hard-working people aspire to these things? Or are these just dreams available only to the richest category in that small green dot?

I'm not saying more people should be uber rich. I'm saying that if 70K+ is the highest category, the size of the dark green dot shows a serious lack of economic opportunity in our city.

Middle classness is a function not only of income, but of wealth, so Barrett's points are sharp.  

I type from my two bedroom apartment with a very comfortable (for Duluth) income from the university, yet I know that I'm one medical disaster away from homelessness.  I lack the wealth and my family lacks the wealth to survive that kind of financial trauma.

First, love maps! Great conversation starters, gets people thinking. For this map, couple of things stand out:

Institutionalized persons are counted for racial and ethnic demographics, but are not included in the income surveys.  Especially in the census blocks with prisons, that can throw things off.  Should probably subtract categories not surveyed for income, so the same population is being mapped. 

Something may be borked in the original census data, a mostly uninhabited census block along Miller Creek shows more people than would seem.  On this map, the diverse area shown near Hermantown is Block Group 2, Tract 3.  From the 2000 tabular data, Block Group 2 is 98.7% white.  Block Group 1, just to the north, would meet your 10% threshold.  This Block Group includes the county jail. 


http://factfinder.census.gov/leg1/05/197300305.gif

Also, I think it's funny how East Superior very similiar to Duluth's Hillside.

Awesome maps Codie! Have you considered doing a masters and/or PhD in Cartography? There's a great, really cutting-edge program I'm in down here in the Geography Department at UW-Madison. Funding isn't too hard to come by here, too.

Thanks Codie, I really enjoyed your map.  Your presentation however meant very little to me without some explanation.  Sorry, I don't know enough about the tools used to understand the meaning of the slides.