My previous three posts have looked at which small communities (census tracts) are most similar to the national average, for various categories. Today I'll cover the final category, and then we'll get to see just which neighborhood most closely matches, as a whole, the United States. The final category is Political Lean, and it's a … Continue reading Average Neighborhoods, the Finale

I've been looking representative neighborhoods across the nation. Previous posts looked at a series of characteristics, here (Age, Race) and here (Ethnicity, Sex, Household makeup). Today I'll continue, starting with the question of Homeownership. The census question this is based on is simply: do you own or rent your current housing unit? The national average … Continue reading Average Neighborhoods, Part 3

Last time I started looking for "representative" neighborhoods - that is, those that approached the national average in various categories. I covered age and race previously; let's continue with Hispanic/Latino Heritage. Remember, this is treated by the Census as an ethnicity, so the tallies are independent from race. This is a yes/no question: is your … Continue reading Average Neighborhoods, Part 2

I'm going to try to answer the question, what is the most representative neighborhood in America? In other words, which small community reflects the overall makeup of this nation? The first thing to do is to define a neighborhood. I'm relying on census data, so it's got to be a geographic area that the census … Continue reading An Average Neighborhood

In the 1970s there was a half-hearted attempt to convert the United States to the metric system for measurements. The Metric Conversion Act, which Gerald Ford signed in 1975, encouraged but did not require a conversion from English to metric for trade and commerce. Since it was voluntary it never happened, because well, America. For … Continue reading Watch Out for the Metric System

[Recommend a larger screen for this one - PC, or tablet at least]. Today it's more analysis of the American Community Survey census of housing tenure - how long homeowners have lived at their current address. Last time we looked at the state level, today we'll be getting more granular. Let's start with counties. Here's … Continue reading Homeowner Tenure

A couple of days ago there was a scheduled power outage in our neighborhood. PG&E were replacing a power pole up the street, and they indicated that our power might be out for up to eight hours. To ensure our fridge stayed cool without power, we froze a couple of large bowls of water the … Continue reading Ice in August

Each year the Census Bureau's American Community Survey queries a subset of Americans about their housing status. One of the questions is how long the respondent has lived in their current residence. This is done for both owners and renters; for now, I'll look at owners. The question asks, effectively, "when did you move into … Continue reading Homebodies

So far my posts regarding the American Time Use Survey have mostly looked at the data from 2003 to 2023 as a whole, summing up twenty years worth of results to analyze how Americans spend their time. But for certain activities the data has changed over the past two decades - we either spend more … Continue reading Time, Over Time

Today I'm back to looking at the American Time Use Survey. Let's take a look at the differences between sexes when it comes to time spent on various activities. The table below lists the main activity categories, with the average time spent (in minutes, per day) by women and men, and the difference (positive difference … Continue reading A Woman’s Work is Never Done. Really.