The People and Places Poverty Impacts the Most

This is part of our IndyVitals blog series, exploring the data behind IndyVitals.org.

Poverty does not affect all populations equally. Unfortunately, women, people of color, and people with less education are statistically more likely to fall below the poverty line. However, summarized statistics cannot always tell the whole story. Often times, when studying economic indicators, it often helps to look at data spatially. Overall, the aforementioned groups may be more likely to live in poverty, but we live in a complex world with many spatial factors influencing local economies.

When looking at multiple data displayed on a single map, it is possible to illuminate many storylines playing out in local communities.. This gives a much better picture of what life and the economy look like for local Indianapolis Neighborhood areas. This dashboard attempts to do just that. The map below shows Indianapolis neighborhood areas shaded by their local poverty rate. Darker red represents higher rates of impoverishment and lighter red representing less. The poverty rates for different populations in these areas are visualized below the map.

Hopefully this dashboard has led you down a path of discovery. If you want more inspiration for a learning journey, head over to indyvitals.org to check out many different neighborhood indicators and their interactions for the diverse populations of Indianapolis.