Who are the people in your neighborhood?

Mind-blowing!!

This wonderful NYTimes feature, Mapping America: Every City, Every Block depicts 2010 census data through powerful color density graphics for every block.  Maps show race and ethnicity, income, education, housing, and families stats for any zip code and the specific census tracts of each - in my urban area this is about .25 square mile.  Go ahead, plug in your zip, zoom in, and get insight to the demographic composition of your own neighborhood.

I could have played with this for hours, but for now, I've learned some fascinating statistics for my little corner of the world, Census Tract 6802:

• My community is quite ethnically diverse.  We are 30% White, 56% Black, 5% Hispanic, 1% Asian, and 7% other. 
• We have remarkably broad and balanced income spread.  19% of households have a median household income of under $30,000, 17% have a median household income between $30,000 and $49,999, 16% between $50,000 and $74,999, 17% between $75,000 and 99,999, 17% between $1000,000 and 149,999, 7% between $150,000 and 199,999, and 7% above $200,000. 
• The median income of these 14 square city blocks is $72,883, and increase of 45% since 2000.  That's gentrification, folks.
• The cost of living in DC is exorbitant - as evidenced especially in my edgy, hardly posh neighborhood.  The median home value is $479,800, an increase of 189% since 2000.  And renters don't have it easy with a median monthly rent of $882, an increase of 41% in the last ten years.  35% of our mortgages consume 30% or more of income, an increase of 11% in ten years.
• Despite being an urban neighborhood with high home values, we're not all that gay.  Only 2% of our households are comprised of same-sex couples.  For comparison, just west of me, that number is 5%, and in DC's gay 'hoods of U Street and Dupont Circle the proportion is 8%. 
• The DC metro area is one of the wealthiest, most employed, and most educated in the country.  In my next of the woods, we're doing OK with 90% of us having completed high school, 44% with a undergraduate degree, and 22% with graduate degree credentials.  This is nowhere close to the 50 to 60% of people who hold graduate degrees in most parts of Montgomery, Arlington, and Alexandria counties.  
• Twenty percent of my neighborhood kids attend a private elementary school, an increase of 7% since 2000.

I love my little urban village.  I sometimes wonder why so.  I certainly have worse schools, more trash, and higher crime rates than my friends and colleagues in the inner, high-density suburbs.  Those neighborhoods, too, have incredible ethnic diversity - and some of those areas host an even more diverse mix of people. Those neighborhoods are politically and socially progressive, an absolute necessity for me.  So what is it that keeps me here?  I think the socioeconomic mix keeps me from feeling like I live in a bubble.  I like my dose of true reality (as opposed to reality tv reality) - which includes some real-life grit.  I love not being car-dependent, though I am still often reliant on my wheels.  Finally, while the scene is thin here, I enjoy the creative and entrepreneurial spirit that is found in the city within its arts scene and relatively thriving small and independent businesses.  I [HEART] DC.