BY: TIFFANY NEMAN | JANUARY 5, 2014
What, exactly, does your income say about you?
According to Income Upshot, a data interactive tool by Marketplace's Wealth and Poverty Desk, your income can help analysts predict the likelihood of you owning a gun, how many hours you spend a day watching television, your political ideology... even your preference for alcoholic beverages, among other factors. By simply entering in a household income level and zip code, you can explore an assortment of variables correlated with one's salary. The site uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau and other sources to compile this fun, user-friendly interface.
To illustrate, I chose to explore two different household incomes ($30,000 and $200,000) in 90024, the zip code in which UCLA essentially resides (the median household income of which, I might add, is $67,151). As Income Upshot indicates, the difference in those incomes translates to strong differences in marital status, with almost 80% of those earning a yearly $200,000 nationwide married, compared with only 56.8% of those earning $30,000 a year.
According to Income Upshot, a data interactive tool by Marketplace's Wealth and Poverty Desk, your income can help analysts predict the likelihood of you owning a gun, how many hours you spend a day watching television, your political ideology... even your preference for alcoholic beverages, among other factors. By simply entering in a household income level and zip code, you can explore an assortment of variables correlated with one's salary. The site uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau and other sources to compile this fun, user-friendly interface.
To illustrate, I chose to explore two different household incomes ($30,000 and $200,000) in 90024, the zip code in which UCLA essentially resides (the median household income of which, I might add, is $67,151). As Income Upshot indicates, the difference in those incomes translates to strong differences in marital status, with almost 80% of those earning a yearly $200,000 nationwide married, compared with only 56.8% of those earning $30,000 a year.
$30,000 | $200,000 |
The interface also provides a condensed version of the data for each variable in a series of articles entitled "Behind the Data." For example, if you want to compare income bracket with political ideology, you can view the entire graph at once, as seen below. Do you notice any interesting trends?
There are all sorts of trends and patterns worth exploring with Income Upshot. At a time when income inequality is a pressing issue both domestically and globally, understanding the role that money plays in influencing not just our consumer behavior, but our lifestyle, has never been more important.
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