I found Social Explorer very interesting in how it compiled data over the years. I was especially interested in how my census tract has changed over the course of 60 years. What used to be a mostly all white middle class suburb of Kansas City, Missouri evolved into a mostly all African American community who are struggling to make it financially. In 1950, most families lived on $3,500 income in this census tract. Most, if not all were white, and had middle income jobs. The rest were the working class, mostly black, and made half as much as the middle income occupants. In 1950, there were 1200 households which were occupied and most of the occupants had owned their homes. We see a dramatic change in the 2000 census. Most of the population in this census tract were African American. Although the population had gradually declined since the 1950’s, African Americans represented over 90% of the population. However, their incomes did no better and most residents were living in poverty. In 1950, a middle income would equate to $35,000 per household in this census tract. In 2000, the average household income in this census tract was only $17,500, half the value 50 years ago. Economically, things did not go better off for the residents living in this census tract. Home ownership fell and residents relied more on renting month per month. In 2010, the population continued to decline and with that more homes were becoming vacant. Occupied housing fell from 1,040 to 849 in a matter of ten years. Home ownership fell as well from 476 homes to 356 in ten years. Overall, housing continued to decline in this census tract as more residents continued to move out in this area. It seems that it is a continuing trend not only in this census tract but also in the surrounding city.
