Household Income Quintiles and the Top 5%

The above map, based on table B19080: “Household income quintile upper limits”  from the 2013 American Community Survey, displays income amounts which would put a household among the wealthiest 5% in their state. The stacked bars adjacent to the map display household income distribution within a state by quintiles, providing an overview of household income distribution.

For Connecticut, New Jersey, and District of Columbia, table B19080 from the 2013 ACS reports that the top 5% of households by income have lower income limits of “250,000+”, while more precise estimates are provided for all other states. Connecticut reached this apparent “250,000+” reporting ceiling in the 2011 American Community Survey report. The top 5% of households in District of Columbia surpassed this threshold several years earlier. Interestingly, in 2009 the American Community Survey reported that the lower limit of the top 5% of households in D.C. was $279,845; in this year’s report the figure is reported simply as being “$250,000+”, obscuring the true estimate. Table B19083 from the 2013 ACS indicates that the District of Columbia has a greater level of income inequality than any state; New York and Connecticut have the highest Gini index among states.

 

New data from American Community Survey for Connecticut towns

The American Community Survey 2009-13 ACS 5-Year dataset, released today by the U.S. Census Bureau, provides new economic and demographic data for smaller geographic areas including all 169 Connecticut towns. The visualization below provides a snapshot of just a few measures from one report within this dataset, “DP03 – Selected Economic Characteristics” – just one of the more than 2,000 tables of new data for Connecticut towns, Congressional districts, school districts, Census Tracts, and other areas. To browse for more detailed economic data on any town, follow the link that appears when you hover over any map in the visualization – or start browsing American FactFinder with some of the links below:

 

Highlighting CT Open Data: Hartford Fire Incidents

The Connecticut State Data Center has recently been working on visualizations that highlight some of the data available on the Connecticut Open Data Portal.

This fifth visualization takes a look at incidents reported to the Hartford Fire Department between January 1st and November 19th. There are four views; three are maps, and the other is an area chart that shows incidents over time broken down by zip code. Note that not all of these incidents necessarily involve a fire. When clicking on a point in the map, there is a link to a PDF with explanation of all the incident codes.  You can see all of the original data here.

Just like other visualizations, this story also includes a GoogleMaps interface so you can look at incident locations using a satellite basemap or Google Street View.