A neighborhood where (economically) everyone's just about the same
Almost none of these things are not like the others.
The Country Knolls neighborhood in Clifton Park has the smallest income inequality of any place in the nation, according to the Census Bureau (with a handful of statistical caveats). That is, there's very little distance between the high and low ends of the income distribution there (Gini index of 0.214). Or, to put it simply, almost everyone there has just about the same level of household income.
Notes the Census Bureau in the report, U.S. Neighborhood Income Inequality in the 2005-2009 Period:
Country Knolls CDP NY, part of the Albany Urbanized Area about halfway between Albany and Saratoga Springs NY (see Map 2), has the lowest measured income inequality (though not different from the others in the table because of the small sample sizes)--0.214, or 46 percent of the U.S. figure.21 In these small places with low inequality, sorting is likely the source of the homogeneity in income. For example, in Country Knolls in 2005-2009, 96 percent of the people were White non-Hispanic; 85 percent of households are married-couple households; 97 percent of the people at least 1 year old were living in the same residence 1 year earlier; 26 percent of people 25 years and over had a graduate or professional degree; the median income of households was $107,589; and only 9 of 609 housing units were renter-occupied (1.5 percent).
That median income would put a household somewhere close to the 80th percentile for income in the Capital Region.
A tip of the hat to the TU's Chris Churchill for noticing this. And The Biz Review talked about it with Clifton Park supervisor Phil Barrett, who lives in that neighborhood.
[via @MickIAm]
Earlier on AOA: Capital Region income distribution
map: US Census Bureau
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Country Knolls
Clifton Park, NY 12019
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Comments
That's nice. Meanwhile, studies confirm New York State has the HIGHEST INCOME INEQUALITY OF ALL 50 STATES.
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/28/headlines/study_confirms_unequal_wealth_distribution_in_united_states
See you at Occupy Albany tomorrow!
... said Kim D. on Oct 28, 2011 at 5:16 PM | link
Fitting, because all of the houses in Country Knolls and its Van Patten brethren communities look exactly the same.
... said Nina on Oct 28, 2011 at 9:04 PM | link
Completely unsurprising. The houses are priced such that anyone with a median income much less than that cannot afford to live there, but the soul-sucking location is that anyone with a median income significantly higher than that would never WANT to live there.
In other words, it's economically the same because all the damn houses are the same, and yes, all of the people are probably very similar, too.
Ugh.
This isn't jealousy, either - no, my median income is not even half that, but even if it was hovering around that number, that would NOT be my first choice! I like my city living, thank you. :)
... said irisira on Oct 29, 2011 at 8:10 AM | link
Lived there for a year - now in Smallbany for six. Residents there just like residents here. All work hard, take pride in their community and struggle to make ends meet. Beware projecting anything more on those that live there based on these statistics.
... said upstater on Oct 29, 2011 at 10:09 AM | link
Suburbs are often built and zoned for a specific income range. Im sure many of them have very "equal" gini indexes, but that doesnt mean they promote equality.
... said BBnet3000 on Oct 29, 2011 at 1:58 PM | link
We once got lost somewhere between Clifton Park and Halfmoon in a pre-GPS era.
It felt like a cheap horror movie.
Identical subdivisions with fancy names and similar wood-and-gold-tinted signs. Cookie cutter houses and disorienting cul-de-sacs. And absolutely no landmarks to stick to.
It took us a while to leave this sticky nightmare.
... said Lu on Oct 31, 2011 at 1:36 PM | link