Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with demographics

Local politics that isn't really local

Weebot — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 20:41:24 -0800

Which municipal district has the largest constituency? I was looking through some of the City Council districts for Los Angeles and New York, and they're pretty large (about a quarter million and 150,000, respectively), and I was wondering if someone would know off the top of their heads which cities and/or counties have extremely large constituencies.

I know that LA County's Board of Supervisors have 2 million people districts which I think may be the biggest non-Senate legislative districts in the country, but I want to know if there are any other large ones.

I can haz demographic displays, plz?

WidgetAlley — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:09:46 -0800

I am in need of a program that will allow me to display demographic information by county on a state map. Recommendations? I am interning for the Legal Aid society over the summer, and part of my work includes compiling demographic statistics about their client population and figuring out a way to display it in a way that ties in with a map of our area (Tennessee.) I am looking for a program set up for this, and that will allow me to create some quite sophisticated displays-- for instance, percentage of total population vs. percentage of clients per county, dominant type of cases per county, etc.

Legal Aid is fairly well-funded, but we are still a non-profit; we are willing to make a cash commitment but don't have a whole lot of money to throw around, so cheaper/free is better! Thank you from a lowly intern!

Help me pigeonhole people like an advertiser!

anotherpanacea — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 08:16:43 -0800

Demographer/Marketer-Filter: I'm seeking an exhaustive list/explanation of all the acronyms and mnemonics like DINK, BOBO, buppie, yuppie, slackers, boomers, etc., especially if it includes information on marketing demographics that focuses on lifestyle and consumption habits by zipcode. Free online resources (including journal articles available through university libraries) are much preferred, as are complete typologies over ad hoc descriptions. I believe I have read that marketers and advertising folks have a fairly complete typology of consumer categories for households and individuals, so that they can tell which consumers are trend-setters and early adopters, which are "Class X" refusists, which ones will go bankrupt soon, that sort of thing.

I'm not trying to sell anything myself, just working on a project on identity and personhood and looking for research materials from this somewhat alien field of study-for-hire. If there are good books out there, I'll take them too: I'm already thinking in terms of The Big Sort and The Rebel Sell, but more books along those lines would be appreciated!

Do young people look for different things in book covers?

willnot — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:02:10 -0800

Can you point me to any specifics about which book cover designs or designs in general appeal more to people aged 18 to 34? I have an author with a book she feels will appeal to that demographic, and she wants to optimize the book cover design to best attract that group's attention. Barring that, are there any best seller lists that are broken down by age, especially self-help/career types of books?

Solar/ Renewable Energy Research

wts111 — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:28:08 -0800

I am looking for research data on demographic trends of customers of companies that have opted to install solar energy systems on their buildings. My hypothesis is that companies who invest in solar will attract a more affluent customer to the desired call to action than companies in the same industry, all other things being equal. I am interested in any data pertaining to manufacturing, retail, medical, commercial office, etc. applications. Any ideas of where I can find any secondary research that has been done on solar (or renewable) energy demographics? Thank you!

ISO data

greta simone — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:03:17 -0800

Google-fu masters: I need some stats, STAT. I have been looking for two days for this set of specific data. I've been to all the usual government and research foundation sites, but I can't seem to find what I need. Self-admittedly, I have terrible google-fu. If anyone feels like going on a treasure hunt for me, I'd give you a virtual high five.

I'm looking for a North Carolina county-by-county breakdown of the following information (data from 2005 or later only please):
--Domestic violence (insubstantiated and substantiated)
--Substance abuse
--Single parent households
--Court ordered child support
--High school graduation rate of males
--Incarceration rate of males
--Fertility rates of unmarried women
--Martial, separation, and divorce rates

I have been able to find loads of other data that I need, but it seems that data on issues related to these subjects just slightly misses the mark. I also understand that data might not be available for a lot of this stuff as well.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Photos + Demographic Data = Useful ?

ericc — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 11:56:06 -0800

I have thousands of photographs of the insides of closets, refrigerators, cabinets, medicine chests, etc., all of which have a decent amount of demographic data attached to each photo. It sure seems like this data would be useful to some product research firm, or manufacturer, or product developer. Is it? Do any of those companies ever buy datasets like this?

Why are there so few Italian-Americans on the West Coast?

jason's_planet — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 11:54:08 -0800

Why are there so few Italian-Americans on the West Coast? For that matter, why are they so heavily concentrated in the urban Northeast? Is this concentration the result of closer family ties? Tighter-knit communities?

I pose this question because most American ethnic groups seem to have spread out pretty widely throughout the country but from what I can see, Italian-Americans seem to be concentrated in the Northeast and Florida.

Why is this so?

Many thanks in advance.

2008 election stats, stat!

wsg — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:20:17 -0800

I'm googling without success for 2008 US National election results broken down by race, gender, education, income. etc. Any ideas?

Which states are losing/gaining college graduates?

Mr. Justice — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:43:26 -0800

I am looking for an article or a study, which I only dimly remember, that was a statistical/demographic account of which USA states had in-migration or out-migration of people with college degrees. The question I am trying to answer, and the question which I dimly recall this study addressed, was: which states are losing college graduates? Which states are gaining them?

How many people work from home who aren't traditional telecommuters?

jenkinsEar — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:46:52 -0800

I'm trying to figure out how many people in the US work from home, but aren't (traditional) telecommuters. I'm trying to figure out the # of people who 'work from home' - and am wondering if anyone has any ideas. Specifically, I'm looking to understand how many people are actually employed by those 'work from home!' Companies (eg freelance writing, online tutoring, survey-answering etc. ) I'm not interested in your basic telecommuter- but instead, the group of people looking for part-time work, flexible hours, convenience of never having to leave your house, and cash.

Any thoughts on how to figure out how many people do that sort of thing? Is there a commercial service that aggregates this kind of data? Google Answers has some old Small Business Administration surveys, but they don't quite match up- they are mostly telecommuters, not work from home / freelance folks.

Help with Non-Profits

CollectiveMind — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:38:49 -0800

Does anybody know how to get demographic information on who is (or has been) starting non-profits? I'm looking for a study or a table or something that shows who is starting non-profits by gender, age, geography, type (social welfare, educational, etc.), income, education, political preference, etc. I've contacted the IRS thinking they probably have some of this, but thought there might already be something out there. I've checked with Guidestar, the Journal of Philanthropy and a few others but haven't yet found anything. I already have information on who tends to give what on the public side. I need to know who is starting and running them on the organizational side.

Is everybody who could be a supermodel actually a supermodel?

cgc373 — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 02:42:58 -0800

Are there a lot of people who are recognizably as beautiful as supermodels who are not supermodels? Or do the present mechanisms of celebrity reliably account for a majority of people who meet the criteria to be supermodels? And how would one go about trying answer a question like this, aside from the expedient method of popping into AskMe?

They can't all be millionaires, right?

yalestar — Mon, 05 May 2008 06:25:26 -0800

Something that's always confounded me about Manhattan and San Francisco in particular: Where do the middle-class families live? Suburbs, obviously, but surely there must be some that live in the city proper. But where?

Generating shaded maps of India with state-level data series.

matthewr — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 16:31:29 -0800

What's the easiest way of generating a map similar to this? I have several state-level data series I want to display on maps of India. I assume this blank map of India in SVG format is a good starting-point. Now, what program(s) do I use to link areas on the map to my data series and hence automatically shade states by a variable x?

My data looks like:
[state code] state x [jm] jam 1.93386 [hp] him 1.74945 [pj] pun 1.90247 [uc] utt 2.13038 ... 33 more states ...

I have Windows, Stata, Excel and zero budget.

Google Gurus, the Hour of Need Has Arisen

Lieber Frau — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:25:57 -0800

Can someone help me find a comprehensive map detailing Chicago racial demographic percentages by neighborhood? I found a really nice, simple one that was included as part of a UIC student or faculty member's page. It was color-coded and measured racial percentage by neighborhood/ward. I believe the image changed slightly on rollover. Now I can't find the darn thing!

It doesn't seem like this would be a difficult map to locate, given the explosive nature of the topic. But it is. Or perhaps I'm a schmuck. Please help.

Thank you Hive Mind!

Steer me to your nearest "bad neighborhood"...

jjjjjjjijjjjjjj — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:02:43 -0800

What is the "bad part of town" for your nearest metropolitan area... and what's the name of the most notoriously "bad" neighborhood(s) in that part of town? If you're catching a whiff of "chatfilter", it is not because I didn't diligently try to avoid or discourage it when formulating the question. I've kicked it around in my head for a week now, and haven't found a silver bullet to kill the possibility that answers might be a bit chat-tainted. I do have a very specific question I'd like answered, and I am not trying to promote lax conversation. That the thread may be used by some in chatty ways shouldn't indict the specificity of my question. abusus non tollit usum.

I am a cartographer. I've been thinking about "bad neighborhoods" lately and rolling some ideas around in my head. I am thinking about making something that might approximate an "Atlas of the Bad Part(s) of Town(s)". I'd like to get some "jumping on" points to guide my research of various cities.

My perception of "bad part of town" has everything to do with "prevalence of crime"--yours may not, but if you are using some other rubric as your principal justification, please note this.

I am very gracious for any information you can provide, from specific to the very general. It need not be exact, and a notional response (if fairly well informed) would be absolutely fine.

By way of example... the information for my city is as follows: St. Louis, MO - Bad part of town: The North Side - Notoriously bad neighborhoods: Hyde Park, St. Louis Place, the Ville, Carr Avenue.

I am very appreciative for any information you can provide, and for any direction you can steer my research. The project I am envisioning will likely be U.S.-centric, but I am very interested, personally, in answers from all over the world. Thanks much.

Searching for Paradise

Cranky Media Guy — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:51:54 -0800

How can I find out which states have towns or cities named Paradise? Also, it would be helpful if the database or whatever I was directed to had demographic information about the towns/cities, like population size, average income, local industries, etc. Thanks for your help.

Market Research and Demographics

Raichle — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 07:57:22 -0800

Where could I find demographics about age groups and personal computer ownership? Specifically a percentage of people who own computers by age group I am writing a business plan for a computer retail and repair shop and I am doing the market research section. I am trying to find a general percentage of computer owners by age group and then compare it to my neighborhood age statistics. Any other suggestions for market research are greatly appreciated as well. Thanks!

How many fathers are there in the US Congress?

hyperfascinated — Tue, 22 May 2007 12:37:49 -0800

How many United States Congressmen are parents? I read recently that 70 out of the 86 women in Congress are mothers. How many men in Congress are fathers?
This information has been surprisingly difficult to Google.

How do I find the population within a defined radius of a certain point?

brain_drain — Mon, 21 May 2007 19:58:06 -0800

I'm looking for a tool (preferably free) that will provide population data for the area within a defined radius of a point on a map. Ideally, it would be a website that allows you to click on a map, set a "center," and choose a radius from the center (say 10, 20, 100 miles). It would then provide information on the population within the chosen radius. At a minimum I need information on population size, but other demographic data would be helpful as well.

If there's no such site (or it's expensive), next-best would be a tool that at least provides this information for major metropolitan areas.

Paging Mefi Librarians

ottereroticist — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 11:55:52 -0800

Demographic Research Question: I am trying to find an online source that will tell me how many high school students live in a particular media market (a set of counties surrounding a major urban area). I know census data is available by county, but I'd like data more recent than 2000. I can probably find school district enrollment data for each county, but that seems pretty brute-force, since we are talking about several dozen counties. I am not averse to paying a moderate sum (say less than $100) for this information if necessary. Thanks for any pointers you can give me!

Demographics & Nielsen ratings

meta x zen — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 21:06:28 -0800

TV filter: I'm a media studies major and I'm trying to find a reliable source for A.) Nielsen ratings & B.) Detailed Demographics for specific shows. TV filter: I'm a media studies major and I'm trying to find a reliable source for A.) Nielsen ratings & B.) Detailed Demographics for specific shows.

For example I'm writing a paper now on whether the Daily Show w/ Jon Stewart promotes political activism or apathy and cynicism. I've found conflicting numbers on their ratings from 900K to 1.4 million & the best I could do for demographics was weak.

Are there sources out there with demo break downs like 34% of the viewers are 35 to 52 and make 60K a year??

Thanks!!

What's with all the pickups?

zek — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 18:55:26 -0800

How come Tex-Mex restaurants attract so many big SUVs and pickup trucks? This is something I've noticed in Austin as well as in several small cities in Texas.

In recent months there's an Italian joint we found that we like. So happens it's next to a Mexican place. Last night I actually made a rough count of the cars as I went through the parking lot. The Italian place: 35% pickups/SUVs. The Tex-Mex place: 80%. This particular Tex-Mex place doesn't even serve alcohol on their premises, so it's certainly a food thing. What's the deal? Is there a demographic phenomenon at work here?

How is it that [seemingly] Ford Escalade drivers like the enchiladas, while a Saturn driver relishes the lasagna?

Is the average blogger poorer than the average person?

growabrain — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 18:21:23 -0800

After reading hundreds of blogs (Why, oh why?), I’ve come to the conclusion that a big number of the people who write about their own financial situation, explicitly or indirectly tell of how broke they are; Like Jim Anchower, many describe low wages and bad jobs, job losses and unemployment, crashing bills, life in apartments with roommates who don’t care and having a hard time paying rents & bills, etc. I understand that the real median household income in 2003 was $43,318 (US), and I know that times are hard for most people. Still, is the average blogger poorer than the average person?