The Income Gap between Men and Women: 2015 vs. 1970

Since 1970, inflation adjusted wage income growth has been almost nonexistent – only five percent over the 45 year period ending in 2015. Income change in metropolitan areas in New York State has differed little from the nation. Rochester and Buffalo were two exceptions – both had lower median real wage incomes in 2015 than in […]

The Shrinking Middle Class in New York State – Cities and Suburbs

Pew Research has been releasing a series of studies showing that the percentage of Americans who have middle class incomes has been declining. The most recent of these is America’s Shrinking Middle Class: A Close Look at Changes Within Metropolitan Areas. The report received extensive coverage in many newspapers, including the New York Times. It concluded that […]

Racial Divisions in Upstate Metropolitan Neighborhoods

In my last posting I described income differences in 800 upstate metropolitan neighborhoods in Albany, Erie, Monroe, Oneida, Onondaga, Rensselaer and Schenectady Counties. The data comes from the United States Census Bureau which divides the nation into census tracts, the most detailed level publically tabulated. Overall, there are 73,000 census tracts nationally, averaging 4,200 residents each. […]