Overview

Neighborhoods are the makeup of each city and as a city changes, neighborhoods may also change. But are these neighborhoods changing for the better? Gentrification is a hot topic that can be argued makes neighborhoods better as they bring development, focus on growth, and lower crime rates. However, there are adverse effects like displacement, change in neighborhood make-up, and shifting economics that dramatically change a neighborhood.

In order to evaluate neighborhoods, we first need to analyze what makes up a neighborhood and leads to these changes.

Data

This project uses data from the Longitudinal Tabulated Database (LTDB)

Load and Merge Data

Using the data from 2000 and 2010 along with their metadata, they must be loaded and merged into one dataset.

Filter for Chandler, Arizona

The research project investigates only Chandler, Arizona. Because Chandler is not it’s own MSA or county, we must filter the data by city. However, Census data does not identify cities in data collection and as such, we must merge another file with our data to include the City of Chandler census tracts by id. We also omitted non-numeric values.

Neighborhood Changes

To give an overview of the neighborhood changes, we need to start with level playing fields and adjust for inflation as well as create variables from the census data. Not all variables are collected in the census in the way that we want to calculate them, so we begin by creating them in the form of percentages.

Calculating MHV Change & Growth

Accounting for Inflation

We accounted for inflation of the ($) USD, by multiplying 2000 Median Home Values by 1.28855

TIP: You can google “inflation calculator” to find a conversion rate, by a start and final year and use $1 as the starting value. Westegg is one example.

Descriptive Statistics for Home Value

The descriptive statistics give an overvew of Home Value in 2000 and 2010, the change in Median Home Value, and the growth in Median Home Value within the City of Chandler.

Statistic Min Pctl(25) Median Mean Pctl(75) Max
MedianHomeValue2000 118,547 156,945 198,694 193,171 224,208 284,245
MedianHomeValue2010 82,800 173,400 229,500 249,169 312,400 474,700
MHV.Change.00.to.10 -35,747 15,973 38,980 55,997 75,772 229,792
MHV.Growth.00.to.12 -30 10 19 26 34 102

Change in Neighborhood Metrics

Research defines gentrification using the following metrics to determine vulnerability:

  • Education Level: We look for neighborhoods that show a decrease in uneducated people as a signal for gentrification.

  • Poverty Rate: We look at neighborhoods that show a decrease in poverty in the ten year span as an indicator for gentrification.

  • Poverty Rate for Families with Children: We look at neighborhoods that show a decrease in poverty for families with children in the ten year span as an indicator for gentrification.

  • Proportion Renters: We look at tracts that have a decrease in renters, signifying that wealthier individuals are moving in and buying property rather than renting, showing gentrification.

  • Proportion of Color: We look at tracts that have a decrease in minority population, signifying that white individuals are moving in and displacing minority individuals.

Descriptive Statistics for Neighborhood Metrics

The descriptive statistics give an overvew of the above Neighborhood Metrics, showing the values in 2000 and 2010 within the City of Chandler.

Statistic Min Pctl(25) Median Mean Pctl(75) Max
Pct.College.Educated.00 0.10 0.23 0.30 0.31 0.40 0.51
Pct.College.Educated.10 0.08 0.29 0.39 0.41 0.52 0.72
Poverty.Rate.00 0.00 0.02 0.05 0.06 0.06 0.22
Poverty.Rate.10 0.00 0.03 0.06 0.09 0.09 0.85
Pov.Fam.Rate.00 0.00 0.01 0.03 0.03 0.04 0.15
Pov.Fam.Rate.10 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.05 0.05 0.28
Pct.Renters.00 0.01 0.13 0.18 0.20 0.29 0.58
Pct.Renters.10 0.05 0.14 0.30 0.29 0.36 0.83
Pct.Color.00 0.03 0.23 0.28 0.29 0.29 0.68
Pct.Color.10 0.04 0.30 0.34 0.37 0.40 0.80
Income.00 46,229.31 66,554.90 77,216.36 77,174.58 88,435.76 118,595.60
Income.10 37,784 56,639.9 72,826 76,833.31 91,008 143,472

Mapping of Chandler, AZ

Visualizing the different factors in Chandler gives us a viewpoint for the changes happening throughout the City.

To view the mapping, we must first upload a mapping package and merge with the Chandler data.

The maps explore Median Home Value Percent Change, College Educated Percent Change, Poverty Rate Percent Change, Poverty for Families Percent Change, Percent Renters Change, and Percent Minority Change. The maps visually show a correlation as we would expect. Where home growth increases, education increases, poverty and family poverty decrease as well as renters decrease. Simulatenously, the opposite is true - where home growth decreases, education decreases, poverty and family poverty increase as well as renters increase.