2.9: How Does Your City Stack Up?

INTRODUCTION

Occasionally on the radio or in the news you will see reports about the best medium size cities, or the safest towns, or best vacation spots. Do you ever wonder how those are determined? Typically, these reports are not based on a single factor, but take into consideration a number of different ways that a person might judge “best.” This collaboration includes an exploration of the type of data that is used as a basis for those claims. This collaboration also demonstrates the convenience of spreadsheets when working with large data sets.

The following chart is one such data set:

In the table above, the column labeled the Cost of Living (COL) Index uses the national average for cost of living as the “base” for comparison. So a city with a COL of 100 would have a COL that is the same as the national average.

Discuss the following questions in your group.

• Which cities have a cost of living above the national average?
• Which cities have a cost of living below the national average?
• Name the city with a cost of living closest to the national average.

Look at the row for Columbia, SC. Answer the following questions in your group:

• What is the population of Columbia, SC? What is the number in words?
• Cost-of-Living Index: The CoL index for Columbia, SC is 92.1. State in your own words what this means.
• Median Household Income: What does a median of 55,310 mean? Why do you think a median was used versus an average/mean?
• Income growth: What do you think this means?

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

By the end of this collaboration, you should understand that

• multiple sources and types of data are important for making judgments and decisions.

By the end of this collaboration, you should be able to

• draw appropriate conclusions from data.
• apply previous learning to new contexts.

PROBLEM SITUATION: DATA ON THE BEST CITIES

In this collaboration, you will compare cities based on various sources of data selected for the purpose of comparison. The following table includes data from 20 cities.

(1) A website lists both Anchorage, Alaska and Danville, Virginia on their list of “10 Best Places to Live Comfortably.”

(a) Use the information in the table to decide whether you are more likely to “live well” financially in Anchorage or Danville. Use estimation skills to justify your decision.

(b) Calculate how much a person in Danville would need to make in order to have the same “buying power” as someone earning the median income in Anchorage.

(2) Use the tables to answer the following questions comparing Olympia, Washington, and St. Cloud, Minnesota.

(a) In which of the two cities are there more families with an income above $60,000?

(b) In which of the two cities are there more families with an income between $60,000 and $78,000?

(3) Review the information for Reno-Sparks, Nevada. What do you think was happening in the job market from 2015 to 2019?

MAKING CONNECTIONS

Record the important mathematical ideas from the discussion.