The Life of the People where I live is focused on academics and sports! The great educational system is one of the reasons we decided to built our house in our small city. The sport teams in my city that almost always go undefeated. We are a middle class to upper middle class community.
So today, I thought it would be interesting to discuss the makeup of the people where I live and introduce you to some free tools, so you check out your community too.
First, to learn about the life of the people where you live, we need a more objective tool than just what I think, so I’m going to use Prizm from Claritas. It’s a fun tool to see what the major groups are that represent your community based on your zip code.
So after I click the “Prizm from Claritas” link, next I entered my zip code at the prompt, and then enter the security code… I get the following:
- Country Casuals
- Country Squires
- Middleburg Managers
- Sunset City Blues
- Upward Bound
If you click on each designation at their site, it display some basic information about each group. So, for the example, the “Upward Bound” group has a median HH (Household income) of about $86,692. This particular group represent the traditional soccer moms and dads in cities like mine. Below is more information that describes this particular segment of the Upward Bound classification:
Upward Bound
| 2009 Statistics: |
| US Households: 1,998,401 (1.73%) |
| Median HH Income: $86,692 |
| Upscale, Middle Age w/ Kids | |
| More than any other segment, Upward Bound appears to be the home of those legendary Soccer Moms and Dads. In these small satellite cities, upscale families boast dual incomes, college degrees, and new split-levels and colonials. Residents of Upward Bound tend to be kid-obsessed, with heavy purchases of computers, action figures, dolls, board games, bicycles, and camping equipment. |
| Lifestyle Traits |
|
|
| Demographics Traits: | |
| Urbanicity: | Second City |
| Income: | Upscale |
| Income Producing Assets: | Above Avg. |
| Age Ranges: | 35-54 |
| Presence of Kids: | HH w/ Kids |
| Homeownership: | Mostly Owners |
| Employment Levels: | Management |
| Education Levels: | College Grad |
| Ethnic Diversity: | White, Asian, Hispanic, Mix |
This group represents my wife and I fairly well. The biggest exception is that she doesn’t work (at least not full time).
While the PRIZM databases is mainly a marketing tool, I always found the information fascinating, and a good marker to compare both my income and our lifestyle against. Of course, I just checkout the snapshot (which is free). The snapshot provides enough to get a decent picture of the area though.
We’re pretty luck that even though we are in the “Upward Bound” group based on most of the descriptions of the lifestyle, we have friends in higher groups with more (like the power boat, and jet skis, etc), so we get the best of the upper tiers too.
Want even more information about your city? Try https://www.city-data.com/! This site has more details about the city statistics! Include what your firemen and police officers earn (at least my city does).
Hopefully your city ranks well too! Try it out, I’m betting you’ll think it’s pretty cool too!
Tell me what you think or if you have additional links that you use for great demographics about your city!
-MR
Neat! Sometimes I go to the census website to see how close we are to getting a Whole Foods… (We need more people… the other demographics are right.)
I love the stats that these sites offer. I don’t know why 🙂
My zip code says this:
Number Name
02 Blue Blood Estates
03 Movers & Shakers
15 Pools & Patios
01 Upper Crust
06 Winner’s Circle
Wow, I must be really successful and didn’t know it! I am such a blue blood. 🙂
I looked further in the demographics and I realized I don’t fit into a lot of what they say. However, that is because I don’t shop in fancy places, but I believe my neighbors do. I am an enigma!!
Wow, that is an impressive grouping of categories of people!
I guess where I live it is kind of like Mayberry compared to where you live 🙂
That’s good stuff. We are likely moving and used city data, but we now we can try this as well.
It’s a fun little app, mostly for marketing people, but still interesting to me.
I even like to use it for surrounding city just to compare…
Thanks for the entertaining site!
It kind of reminded me of my previous job where the company would profile their core customers, going as far as giving them names. When making any kind of decision, we were supposed to keep this fictional person in mind. I will never forget “Helen”.
Helen is 35. She is married, with 2 kids. Both she and her husband works full time and has a middle class income. Helen is brand aware but value conscious. She values time and convenience above all else. Blah blah blah.
I’ve had fun with it, and it’s fairly up to date.
I guess it is kind of sterotyping groups of people… If I were a marketing group, I’d love the site!!!
09 Big Fish, Small Pond
27 Middleburg Managers
53 Mobility Blues
60 Park Bench Seniors
41 Sunset City Blues
Okay, mine reads like I’m surrounded by Bingo Parlors and Senior Centers. Fun little exercise.
I can tell your neighborhood is more established!
The site entertained my for hours. I started doing the town I grew up in, and where I lived in college… etc.
I’m stats sick that way 🙂
35 Boomtown Singles
05 Country Squires
11 God’s Country
18 Kids & Cul-de-sacs
24 Up-and-Comers
Sounds about right. We’re on one of the cul-de-sacs.
Sounds like a good mix :)!
I am SO mad…I was checking this out earlier today, but kept getting booted out! I literally tried 3x to post a comment and even restarted my computer! But thanks anyway for your comment on my post, it was equally hilarious 🙂
At any rate, this was a great link and going to retweet now. It’s hilarious to see what category you fall under, and you’re right, it’s nice to see how you compare.
Where did you end up finding this link?
I’m very sorry, thanks for telling me though! I’m in the process of moving to a larger hosting site. I’m hoping to take the leap sooner or later!
Over 10 years ago (before my son was born), I use to constantly try to see how I measured up from an income earnings perspective. And this site was just one of those sites that came up in one of my numerous google searches. It can also be used for determining if you fit in the life style of the city or not.
I still check it out sometimes, just for kicks 🙂
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I tend not to think at myself belonging to any group at all, no matter the criteria used (ethnic, financial, cultural, food eating criteria, etc.), but the site really provides a decent insight of the area I live in.