Census Data

Identifying Clusters of People Under the Poverty Line in Wake County, NC

Problem and Objective

Wake County, NC was interested in learning about the distribution of people that fall under the poverty line. To do this they asked me to develop a map that displays the percent of people under the poverty line using the 2020 Census tracts and data.

Analysis Procedures

I developed this map using the ArcGIS Pro software. I used data from the US Census Bureau and Tiger/Line shapefile of the census tracts. Specifically, I downloaded the “ACSST5Y2020.S1701_2022-10-23T161048” census data table. This table gave me all sorts of information on the population under the poverty line in Wake County. I used the field titled “S1701_C03_00E” because this field was the percent of the total population under the poverty line for each census tract. To geographically map this data, I used the Tiger/Line shapefile from 2020 for the census tracts of North Carolina. I used the Export Features tool to create a new layer of just the Wake County tracks. And I also used the Add Join tool to relate these two data sets together.

Once I had located and downloaded the data required to solve this task, I then uploaded the NC 2020 Census Tracts shapefile to ArcGIS Pro. I was then able to use the Export Features tool to create a new layer of only the Wake County Census Tracts. I then added the excel file of the Wake County Poverty Data to the map. From here, I was able to use the Add Join tool to add the Poverty Data to the attribute table of the Wake County Census Tracts shapefile. I then changed the symbology of this layer to “Unclassed Colors” and set it to display the percentage of people under the poverty line. I was able to create a map that easily displayed this information. I then took it one step further and used Cluster and Outlier Analysis (Ansel Local Moran’s I) spatial analysis tool. These results found different cluster types and displayed them in a new layer, so I could create a new map displaying the cluster analysis.

Results

Application and Reflection

The biggest skill I developed from this was being able to locate and download data independently. Navigating the US Census Bureau's Data Download site is not easy. After this task, I am now able to confidently navigate and identify the necessary data for completing tasks. Below I describe a different situation where this skill will be extremely useful.

Problem Description

I have been as to display where clusters of children under the poverty line fall in the United States. This map will be used to help determine where aid needs to be provided and focused.

Data Needed

I would need to use the US Census Bureau's Data Download site to locate the appropriate data for children under the poverty line. I would also need to use the a TIGER/Line shapefile of all the counties in the nation.

Analysis Procedure

I would first import the data into ArcGIS Pro. Then, I would use the add join tool to join the Census Data with the county boundary data, and then displaying the data by the attribute I want to communicate. Following this I would run several different types of spatial analysis tools to determine which one best communicates to people where child poverty is most prevalent. Finally, I would be able to display the spatial analysis results in a map, so decisions could be easily made about where aid needs to be provided.

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