Date Table:
Indicator
|
Per Capita Income
|
Poverty Rate (below poverty line)
|
Unemployment rate
|
Percentage of Smokers
|
Average Life
Expectancy
(years)
|
High School Diploma
(percentage of students that didn’t receive)
|
Denver
|
$30,806
|
19.1%
|
4.2%
|
20%
|
75.9
|
22.7%
|
Huerfano
|
$23,139
|
20.6%
|
6.5%
|
31%
|
76.3
|
39.3%
|
Prowers
|
$18,429
|
23.3%
|
2.9%
|
19%
|
75.7
|
22.9%
|
Montezuma
|
$24,616
|
19.3%
|
5.3%
|
19%
|
74.8
|
37.5%
|
Jackson
|
$23,814
|
8.9%
|
1.6%
|
25%
|
81.3
|
40.4%
|
Lake
|
$29,836
|
14.3%
|
4.1%
|
15%
|
80.1
|
25.8%
|
**This data table includes statistics on Per Capita Income, Poverty Rate, Unemployment Rate, Percentage of Smokers, Life Expectancy, and High School Diplomas in Denver, Huerfano, Prowers, Montezuma, Jackson, and Lake counties in Colorado.
***NOTE: all of the lines of best fit in these graphs are oppositely reflected due to technical difficulties
This graph generally shows the correlation between unemployment rate and per capita income. Conclusively, the correlation is very weak. It should be concluded that when the unemployment rate increases the per capita income decreases. However, these counties contain outlying information that disrupts the correlation. This could be due to the fact that certain jobs pay less than others, and a high percentage in people in a county might have a job that pays low wages.
This graph generally shows the correlation between the percentage of people below the poverty line and the percentage of people who did not receive high school diplomas. In Denver, Prowers, and Lake Counties and Montezuma, Huerfano, and Jackson Counties, the lower percentage of people who did not receive high school diplomas, the higher the poverty rate. These two clusters analyzed together do not share a lot of information. However, when observing the two clusters individually, date analysis is simpler.
It is almost common sense to assume that the more smokers a county has, life expectancy decreases. With three outliers, Huerfano, Jackson, and Lake counties, the graph seems to barely have a correlation. This is most likely because other factors come into play that may affect the average life expectancy of an area such as high-crime, bad diets, or other diseases. The average life expectancy are very closely clustered, which leads to difficulty in analyzing the graph.
***Note: the data in these graphs is very inconclusive due to the low amount of counties that were used for data, and extra circumstances that lead to outliers in the date
Section VIII – Write up - In this section you will be writing a few paragraphs explaining which county you feel most needs help developing. You should be able to give four reasons you chose the county you chose. Use statistics to support your decision.
Prowers, Colorado is one of the counties in Colorado in need of the most help in regards to development. Even though five other desperate counties are in need of help as well, Prowers is at the bottom of the deep hole. With a per capita income of $18,429, Prowers is the definition of poverty compared to the rest of the state. In 2012, the United States median household income was $51,017 with members of the middle class usually earning 50% higher or lower than that value. Therefore, middle class members usually earn $25,500 to $76,500 per capita as income. Based on this analysis from USNEWS.COM, Prowers contains a majority of lower class citizens. Lower class citizens are the most impoverished. These communities are in the most need of help with development. In fact, One of the main indicators of economic development is the Per Capita Income of an area. This highlights the income a person has to put towards purchasing necessities. Prowers, Colorado has the highest rate of citizens under the poverty line out of the six counties analyzed above. Out of every 100 of Prowers’ citizens, 23 earn less than the poverty level (23.3%). This means that these citizens are officially considered impoverished. This high rate is alarming and needs to be lowered as quickly as possible. “For example, a four-person family with two adults and two children is poor with annual cash income below $23,283; the threshold for a four-person family with a single parent and three children is $23,364.” This data is taken directly from the Institute for Research on Poverty. This high percentage of poverty is a burden to the successful development of this county.
Huerfano is also in need of a lot of help in terms of development. The percentage of smokers is the highest in Huerfano compared to the other counties. The high percentage of smokers can lead to many health issues, which is a huge burden to development. If the percentage of smokers would be lowered with aid efforts, development would most likely be more successful in Huerfano. Huerfano county has the highest unemployment rate (6.5%) among the other counties we chose in Colorado. This year the recorded average unemployment rate in the United States is 5.7 %. Therefore, the unemployment is worse than the national average. This means that Huerfano is failing compared to the other counties across the nation in terms of the unemployment level. A high unemployment rate means that a county has many people that are unemployed. Unemployment is a huge burden to the development of counties. If there is a large number of citizens that do not have jobs, the development of the economy occurs slowly or not at all. Job security allows for a citizens to have a higher per capita income. Once this development occurs, other factors such as percentage of smokers, percentage of people failing to receive high school diplomas, poverty rate, and average life expectancy, turn for better in a change reaction.
Works Cited
Williams, Geoff. "What It Means to Be Middle Class Today." US News RSS. U.S. News and
World Report LP., 24 Apr. 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2015. <http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2014/04/24/what-it-means-to-be-middle-class-today>.
"What Are Poverty Thresholds and Poverty Guidelines?" Institute for Research on Poverty.
University of Wisconsin, 2014. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.
"StateBook International." StateBookBeta. State Book, 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2015. <https://www.statebook.com/search_results/?state=&q=boulder>.
"United States Census Bureau." Huerfano County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau.
U.S. Department of Commerce, 05 Feb. 2015. Web. 23 Feb. 2015. <http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/08/08055.html>.
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