The holiday season is upon us! It is a time for festivities and gift giving among friends and family--which means an increase in household spending. According to polling by Gallup, average holiday spending per person nationally is projected to be $906 in 2017, up from $785 in 2016 (see chart below). The most recent [...]
The recent release of 2012-16 American Community Survey (ACS) data gives us an updated ability to look at small-area changes in race/ ethnicity across the metro region. The map below shows the change in share (in percentage points) of Hispanic and/or Latino population by census tract between 2010 and the 5-year period ending in 2016. [...]
Adults are far better educated "now" than they were in previous generations--higher and higher shares are going to, and completing, college. And this level of education is crucial, as recent Burning Glass data indicate that employers are asking for bachelors degrees or more as qualifications to fill nearly two-thirds of 2017 job postings! A [...]
Last Thursday, December 7th, the Census Bureau released an annual estimate series that we data nerds await with near-bated breath--almost like a little kid waiting for Santa (yes, really...yes, we know). Anyway, those data are the 5-year estimates from the American Community Survey. What makes them so useful is that they are reported at [...]
Gwinnett County was once a smattering of predominantly white small towns, interspersed with acres of farmland. The County has however experienced significant changes over the last few decades, and is the focus of a recent article in the AJC exploring the impacts of and tensions inherent in those trends that have resulted in Gwinnett [...]
Incomes in the Atlanta metro area are growing again...just not very quickly, and a great deal more in some counties than in others. Data from the last three years show recovery from the slight declines or (at best) stagnation of the 2000 through 2013 period. And it is all relative, as median household incomes [...]
It's Cyber Monday!! According to USA Today, citing Adobe Analytics data, Cyber Monday sales in the U.S. are expected to reach $6.6 billion this year, an increase of 16.5% from 2016. Online shopping is growing at such a rate in recent years that about every shopping day may one day be "cyber day". According [...]
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed a joint congressional resolution to designate November 1990 as "National American Indian Heritage Month." Since 1994, similar presidential proclamations have been issued every year. Today, the month is recognized as "American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month." The map below provides an estimate of the American Indian [...]
The Atlanta metro economy is in really good shape, and we rank highly among competing metros in terms of job growth. In the latest data, higher wage job sectors such as Professional & Business Services and Information show strong year over year (YOY) increases of 6% and 4% respectively. But our overall YOY rate [...]
