Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Long-Term Housing

by Ken Houghton

I haven't done any hard searching yet, but after some desultory searching at Zipskinny, one thing stood out.

I was checking, basically, ZIP codes in which I've lived (19119, 47331, 07040, etc.).

At a glance, you can tell that the middle one above is from the Midwest and the other two are East Coast. And, as David Brooks tells me, the soul of the Earth is different. More stable.

So here's my attempt at making a table:












































ZIP CodesCity and StateStability
(same home 5+ years)
06880Westport, CT64.0%
19119Philadelphia, PA62.4%
44116Rocky River, OH61.0%
07040Maplewood, NJ60.0%
45385Xenia, OH58.8%
47331Connersville, IN57.5%
46544Mishiwaka, IN56.7%
43230Gahanna, OH50.4%
94706Albany, CA50.1%


Need to work on those border lines. (UPDATE: Ah, so they just don't show in Preview mode. No idea about all that white space, though.)

Judging by the data—which, as noted is a semi-random sample: ZIP codes in which I've lived, ZIP codes where relatives live, a Place of Legend* to which some old friends moved recently (Westport), and three Ohio cities that are suburbs of Cincinnati (Xenia), Columbus (Gahanna), and Cleveland (Rocky River; h/t Erin for that one being chosen)—it appears that most of those nice, stable Midwestern towns are less stable than the East Coast Dens of Iniquity.

I'll be waiting for David Brooks to apologize for every column he's written in the past eight years. Expect that will happen about the time he accepts one of those offers to actually provide accurate statistical analysis to him.

*Fortunately, since this is a family blog, the phrase "doing Westport" is not defined at The Usual Sources.

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Comments:
I've lived in CLE my whole life. I told my husband when we moved into this house 16 years ago that they'd be taking me out in a pine box.

If you'd like to view one of the activities I perform in said house, pop on over to today's post for 3 thrilling minutes.

erf.
 
You've lived in at least two zips in New York City, plus Rye and Jersey City. Why not include those?

(WAG: only one of the NYC zips will be markedly less stable than your other domiciles.)
 
See, Erin, I don't just love you with your clothes off. (Though I guess you have to take your slippers off for that activity.)

Updating the data as per My Loyal Reader's Comment (five zips in NYC, actually, though counting 10027 skews the data). The evidence against the Brooks proposition appears even stronger, as he noted.
 
Ken, thought you might be interested in this table at ZIP code demographics site ZipWho.com.
 
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