Demographics
My territory, the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago (zip code 60614) differs significantly from the U.S. national averages in many respects. In general, this is a wealthy urban neighborhood with a large population of professionals and students both. The neighborhood is highly educated, since DePaul University is located within the district. Levels of education attainment are very high, both among those associated with the university and among the rest of the population, as there is a high percentage of professionals living within this area. Occupations such as finance and professional science are overrepresented, while manufacturing, retail and health care are underrepresented.
As a couple of El lines pass through the neighborhood, this area has a high percentage of people who take public transit to work. The number of people who walk or bicycle to work is also overrepresented and there are far fewer people who drive alone to work in this district than the national average. The number of very rich (those making over $200,000 per year in employment income) is very high in this neighborhood relative to the national average. There are far fewer people at the lower income levels as well.
It is whiter than the U.S. average, and has a relatively low percentage of families as well. More people are "never married" in 60614 than the national average, pointing to a high student population and also to a younger population of urban-dwellers in general. There is relatively little ethnic diversity in 60614 compared to the nation as a whole. This neighborhood is also growing in population slower than the national average, owing to the fact that is has always been a high-density inner city neighborhood with little room for population growth. In addition, the average household size is small compared with the national average, again highlighting the relative low level of families...
In 60614, we can see that the percentage of "never married" and the percentage of "now married" are essentially reversed from the national average. This implies that there is a high number of single people in the district, and fewer families. The average household size from the "Census Trend" sheet supports this finding: The average household size in 60614 is 1.7, compared to the national average of 2.59. This finding is important for us because as a snack maker we want to sell in areas that have a large number of families. The only upside is that if our snacks appeal to college students, we want to focus on districts like this with high student populations.
The ethnicity figures are also interesting. This district is 87.6% white, while the national average is 75.1%. Consequently, there are fewer of just about every ethnic minority, except Asian. This is unusual for an inner city neighborhood, as many such neighborhoods are among the most ethnically diverse in the country. Another statistic worth noting about the family structure in this district is that 82.9% of family households are married couple families, compared with a national average of 75.9%. There are fewer single parent households in 60614 than there are nationwide.
Slide Two: The Census Trend slide reveals more about this district. The population of this district is growing at a rate slower than the national average. This is to be expected, since it has long been a high-density inner city neighborhood. The family population is much lower at 43.2% (compared with 82.2% nationwide) and it is growing at a slower rate than the overall population growth rate, whereas nationwide there is little difference between the family growth…
