Income, Education, & Ethnicity

1. Income, Education, & Ethnicity Erin Dawson Ball State University Geography 265

2. Introduction • Purpose of Research • Show the relationship between education, income, and ethnicity • Hypothesis • Strong correlation b/w education attainment and income status • Strong correlation b/w income and ethnicity • Strong correlation b/w education attainment and ethnicity

3. Methodology • Mapping household income, families of dissimilar education levels, and families of diverse ethnicities within the Indianapolis MSA • Analyzing maps to determine if a relationship between the three variables exist • Using research articles to support my findings and provide statistics

4. Definitions • Income • Looked at income per capita in and around the Indianapolis MSA • Ethnicity • African American • Caucasian • Hispanic

5. Definitions • Education Attainment: • Males w/ No Schooling • Males w/ High School Diploma • Males w/ College Bachelor Degrees or Higher • Education Attainment: • Females w/ No Schooling • Females w/ High School Diploma • Females w/ College Bachelor Degrees or Higher

6. Income & Education • Lack of a High School Diploma has a considerable influence on income groups • Individuals without high school diploma earn less than $25,000/year • Obtainment of a high school diploma slightly increases income per year, however obtainment of a Bachelor Degree greatly increases income for individual households (Pittenger, 2003)

7. Income & Education • Cheaper living and government housing is usually found in and around the downtown areas • There are several block groups near downtown, with a few outlying areas, that contain a greater population of females with no schooling at all • As you move away from the city, with the exception of downtown high rises, you will find higher education levels • The darker regions indicate higher levels of females with no schooling

8. Income & Education • Higher Education Attainment • While Females with high school diplomas are widely dispersed, there is a distinct region of females who have obtained a Bachelor degree (in and around the outer region of the I465 loop ,with a higher concentration just north of the city) Focus: Darker regions= Higher concentrations

9. Income & Education • You can see the same pattern with the male population

10. Income & Education • Income • is received as a result of the normal business activities of an individual or a business • Four levels of income defined: • Low income status ($0-$25,000) • Low/Mid income status ($25,001-$50,000) • Mid/High income status ($50,001-$75,000) • High income status ($75,001 or above)

11. Income & Education • One of the best documented relationships in economics is the link between education and income • Education provides skills that raises an individuals productivity (Pittenger, 1999) • In the Indianapolis MSA, there is a notable correlation between income and education

12. Income & Education • The lowest income areas in the Indianapolis MSA are mostly located around the downtown area with a few block groups that are clustered in points around the outside edge of the city • The highest incomes are found just outside of the I465 loop where many new subdivisions are being built • There is a high concentration of income just north of the city, where developments have been established • Note the few block groups in the downtown area that have a high income status

13. Income & Education • If you compare the maps of education and income, you find the following: • The high income areas correlate to males and females that have obtained a Bachelor degree or higher • The low income areas correlate to males and females that have no schooling at all • Some low income areas correlate to males and females that have just a high school diploma.

14. Income & Education • Females and Income

15. Income & Education • Female & Income

16. Income & Education • Males & Income

17. Income & Education • Males & Income

18. Support for Income & Education Findings • More Education leads consistently to more income and higher living standards • Not surprisingly, less education leads to less income and lower living standards (Mortenson, 2004) • Someone with a high school diploma will make an average annual income of $20,000 or less • A college graduate will average $48,000 a year • That’s a difference of $1.4 million over their working years (Mortenson, 2004)

19. Support for Income & Education Findings • Higher education has become a tool to preserve and strengthen social stratification and an important force dividing Americans • Thus, making the rich richer and the poorer poorer. • This also makes it hard for those of low income status to be able to afford a higher education

20. Support for Income & Education Finding • Reasons for gap in income and education: • The decline in state funding has made college less affordable and less accessible for many low income students • Institutions have raised tuition and fees to offset the loss of state support, thus charges to students have risen far faster than family income • Cost of education loan programs have been viewed as barriers, not vehicles, to participating in higher education (Mortenson, 2004) • This leaves students with the unmet bills from high institutional charges, reduced taxpayer support, and lagging parental contributions. • The demonstrated unmet financial needs of students from families with incomes of less than $40,000/year are being ignored

21. Ethnicity & Income • The three ethnicities mapped are: • African American • Hispanic • Caucasian • Predictions: • Hispanics will occupy the lowest income areas • African Americans will predominantly occupy the low/mid income areas • Caucasians will occupy the majority of the mid/high and high income areas.

22. African Americans Highest concentration of African Americans are located in and around the immediate downtown area There a few outlying concentrations of the population Ethnicity & Income

23. African American Darker areas of African American population correlates to the lighter regions of income Implying that there is a somewhat strong relationship between the two variables. Ethnicity & Income

24. Caucasian The highest concentrations of Caucasians in the Indianapolis area lie in and around the I465 loop. This area is highly developed and tends to obtain persons of higher income status Ethnicity & Income

25. Caucasian The darker areas of the Caucasian map (indicating higher population) correlates to the darker regions of the income map (indicating higher income status) The outlying areas of both maps also relate to one another indicating a relationship between the Caucasian population and the mid/high income status Ethnicity & Income

26. Hispanic Surprisingly, there is a high Hispanic population in the Indy MSA With the majority being located around the culture regions of Indianapolis, particularly in the downtown area and just north of the city Ethnicity & Income

27. Hispanic Correlation between the darker regions of the Hispanic map (indicating higher concentrations of population) and the lighter regions of the Income map (indicating lower income status) Ethnicity & Income

28. Support for Ethnicity & Income Findings • Hispanic: • Supreme Court’s decision states that Hispanic students also have a right to desegregation remedies • Population has grown almost five times faster than non-Hispanic populations in the last ten years • 87% living in the metropolitan areas, they are the nations most metropolitan population • Gaps in educational attainment and earnings between Hispanics and non Hispanic continue to rise • Have the highest drop out rate of any minority group in this nation, representing 10% of the nations students and only 5% of college students (Fernandez & Guskin, 1999)

29. Support for Income & Ethnicity Findings • African Americans • Faces similar challenges as Hispanic, in the idea that face minority discrimination, and represent a high number of the low income bracket of society • Caucasians: • Tend to be offered better education opportunities, due to higher income levels and parental contribution

30. Conclusions • Using spatial analysis, you are able to visibly see the relationship that exists among income, education, and ethnicity • Analysis of maps: • There is a direct correlation between education and income • The higher the educational attainment the more likely the person or household will fall into a high income group (Pittenger, 2003)

31. Conclusions • Education and Ethnicity: • Caucasians showed the highest levels of higher education, while Hispanics showed the lowest level of education • Education and Income: • Those with the lowest education levels were mostly located in the low income regions of the city, while those with the highest income were located in high income neighborhoods and newly developed regions • Income & Ethnicity: • Caucasians tend to be located in the high income area, while African Americans and Hispanic were predominantly located in the lower income regions of the city

32. Conclusion Limitations • Notably, some persons and some householders with four year degrees have low incomes. These might include graduate students, housewives, and others not in the labor force or employed full-time • The Hispanic maps didn’t seem to follow the exact patterns I think they might, maybe showing some limitations in the data collected

33. References & Tools Used • Data for maps obtained by the Census Bureau • http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html • Data mapped by ArcGIS • Statistical information and facts provided by • Pittenger, D (2003). Educational Attainment and Income for Persons and Households. Washington Population Survey, 3, 6-9. • Fernandez, R., & Guskin, J. (1999). Hispanic Students and School Desegregation. In Willis D. Hawley (ED.), Effective School Desegregation: Equity, quality, and feasibility. London: Sage Publications.

34. References • Mortenson, T.G. (2004). Poverty, Race, and the Failure of Public Policy:  The Crisis of Access in Higher Education. Education Today, 12, 12-16.