Census Data

I know I haven't written for a couple of days, but I do have a life, too. I did write last night but for whatever reason the blog didn't accept my post. I trouble shooted it this morning and it looks like I had to clear my browser's cache. Go figure why?

One of my office mates suggests that I ride a bus to the old neighborhood, talk with people, find out where they shop for groceries, what church they go to, where they work, etc., etc. That sounds like fun I just love my adventures into the neighborhood. But I can't do an adventure like this every day.

In between adventures I will document some of my family history and thier migration to Detroit, within Detroit, and the exit from Detroit. Using the case history method can help to build theory and generate hypotheses. But for some people that might be boring and off-topic. But I think it would be interesting data to help make the case that white flight and urban blight was in process long before the first black family moved in the neighborhood two streets away.

Although I can and will write long historical narratives, and I can and will make excursions into the neighborhood, my forte is data analysis. I feel most comfortable making hypotheses, finding data to test them, collect and analyze the data, write up the results, and then adjusting my model, and following the process again. That method is called the scientific method. "In God we trust, all others bring data!"

I found some interesting data last night from the US Census Bureau online. I'm not sure where it fits in this story but here goes. The Wilshire house I used to live in was in zip code 48213, census tract 5044, block group 1, block 1003. My maternal grandparents lived across the street in block 1004. The 2000 census has some block-level data. In block 1003, the median age (age where half the people are above this age and half the people below it) is somewhere between 24.0 and 31.8, in block 1004 the median age was in the same age bracket. There were 138 and 150 people living in blocks 1003 and 1004, respectively. Of these, 4 and 2, respectively, were single-race white. In block group 1, there were 1,125 people, of which 29 were single-race white. Between 22.9 and 30.3 percent of families in this block group were living below the federal poverty level. Median household income for this block group was in the $27,813 - $33,229 bracket. Of those over age 25, between 59.6% and 64.6% of people had a high school diploma, and between 9.2% and 12.4% of people over 25 had a bachelor's degree. In zip code 48213, there were 43,996 people living there, with a median age of 28.0. Of these, 922 were single-race white. There were 15,714 housing units, and of these, 1,896, or 12.1%, were vacant. Grandparents are responsible for thier grandchildren in 47.3% of cases where a grandparent was living with a graandchild. 30.1% of families are living below the federal poverty level. 42.3% of people over 16 in the labor force are employed. MEdian household income is $24,633. 14.6% of householders moved into thier residence in 1969 or earlier, 16.9% between 1970 and 1979, and 16.5% between 1980 and 1989.