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Using Data to Persuade Your Thesis Community Leadership Visit bring those statistics into a Reality A couple weeks ago, I received an e-mail inquiry from a college intern who was working in Florida for the Tallahassee Economic Development. He inquired about a report he read regarding booming economic areas of the country. He wanted to know how Santa Cruz was rated in the top 15 cities with a population of under 500,000 for economic prosperity, population growth and income. I was puzzled by the inquiry and asked where he found this data report. The Personal finance website GOBankingRates analyzed 347 American cities with populations of 500,000 or under, looking for places experiencing a combination of economic prosperity, population growth and rising incomes. To rank the top "boomtowns," or cities that meet these criteria, the site looked at five-year data on population, housing, GDP and per capita income from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2017 American Community Survey and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. California cities showed up several times on the list including Santa Rosa, San Luis Obispo, Sacramento, Oxnard and Santa Cruz. These metro areas "offer incentives, such as a more affordable cost-of-living or a higher paycheck — or both," GOBankingRates reports. The methodology used in the report analyzed 347 major U.S. cities along the following criteria in order to determine which “boomtowns” are seeing increasing incomes, as well as economic growth: (1) five-year change in population, from 2012 to 2017, (2) five-year change in the number of housing units, both sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017 American Community Survey; (3) five-year change in GDP, from 2012 to 2017, sourced from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which has this metric on the metropolitan area level; (4) per capita personal income and (5) five-year per capita personal income growth, sourced from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which has this metric on the metropolitan area level. For a city to be considered among the final list of cities, their change in population, housing units and per capita personal incomes must be positive, and current per capita personal incomes must be higher than the current national level of $51,640. In order to focus on “boomtowns,” a 500,000 population maximum restriction was used on the cities. Ironically, the Chamber’s annual Community Leadership Visit (CLV) trip is set for September 12-14 and our destination is Ventura County where we’ll stay at the Embassy Suites at Mandalay Bay on the coast side of Oxnard, California. The Chamber team is putting together another fun and educational visit about Ventura and Oxnard, California where we’ll compare our region to their region — both in terms of economic drivers, environmental priorities, education, adequate and affordable housing, agriculture and tourism, transportation system improvements and a sustainable water supply to name of few policy areas. So when this “out of the blue inquiry” came to me last week, I needed to pause for a second and ask how did Oxnard and Santa Cruz end up on this list? According to the report: Oxnard ranked number 27 over the five year period 2012-2017: • Income increase: 18.5% • Population increase: 4.7% • Housing increase: 0.1% • GDP increase: 11.4% Regarding the percentage increase in population, Oxnard falls in the bottom 10 out of the 30 cities. Its GDP increase is in the bottom two for the list. Its income increase percentage, however, is above the list’s average of 17.9%, going from $49,937 to $59,178 in five years. Santa Cruz ranked number 12 on the list: • Income increase: 20.5% • Population increase: 6.1% • Housing increase: 0.9% • GDP increase: 23.3% When looking at the increases in salary by city, Santa Cruz’s percentage increase in income is in the top 10 for the list, and its GDP increase is only 1 percentage point below average. The city’s percentage increase in housing, however, is ranked in the bottom five for the list. It is hard to compare California cities vs. cities outside the state as many of the components for comparison are based on national averages. We know that California (over all GDP) is ranked the number 5 or 6 economy in the World which, in my viewpoint, limits this report’s full economic picture of our region or Oxnard against the cities outside of our state. So the very fact that the “average California” salary moves Santa Cruz or Oxnard up national rankings in itself does not reflect other dominating issues that impact the two California coastal cities. The higher cost of living in California, the cost of coastal housing transportation costs based on vehicle miles traveled and cost of gas, food and utilities, outward employment migration to neighboring communities — Santa Cruz to Silicon Valley, Oxnard/Ventura to Santa Barbara or Los Angeles, and other “California only” expenses would be more reflective or specifically on the causal effect of our region’s economy. Let’s take a look at the recent five years of economic and demographic output information from Santa Cruz and Oxnard to further examine the dynamics our coastal cities have in comparison to the nation. One of the major attractions to participants of the Chamber’s CLV trips is the gathering of data from a variety of sources to compare and contrast Santa Cruz County to our destination — Ventura County. Looking again at Oxnard and Santa Cruz, we used the American Community Survey Data from the years 2013-2017 (five year period). For Oxnard: · Median Household Income: o $60,784 to $64,837; a 6.67% increase · Population: o 199,574 to 206,732; a 3.59% increase · Total housing units: o 54,490 to 54,467; a .0422% decrease For the City of Santa Cruz: · Income: o $61,600 to $65,421; a 6.20% increase · Population: o 61,245 to 63,993; a 4.49% increase · Total housing units: o 23,353 to 24,092; a 3.16% increase Statistics have a wonderful way of persuading your thesis. In the GOBankingRates reports they are driving the reader to think of these top 30 cities as destination places for a better job, higher income, and housing opportunities. However, the summary of their initial GoBankingRates report should not stop at the four pivot points. In reality, communities like Oxnard in Ventura County and Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz County need to expand the information base to fully understand the economic trends. That is why the Santa Cruz County Chamber travels to different communities so we can get a firsthand look of the area. We listen and learn from their public sector and business leaders to better understand the dynamics of their region — beyond the numbers. On September 12-14 we will travel to Ventura County to visit the city of Ventura and Oxnard and learn about their economic activities — from agriculture to tourism, discuss their First Responder programs and emergency preparedness from the recent fires and floods. We’ll have a full 2 1/2 day travel agenda planned soon. We’ll also make a short return visit to Santa Barbara as a follow up to the Chamber’s 2014 CLV trip. The CLV has been a very popular event for our chamber members and our region’s public sector leaders. Registration will go live next week so stay tuned. If you have any questions about the CLV please contact me casey.Beyer@santacruzchamber.org
Using Data to Persuade Your Thesis Community Leadership Visit bring those statistics into a Reality
A couple weeks ago, I received an e-mail inquiry from a college intern who was working in Florida for the Tallahassee Economic Development. He inquired about a report he read regarding booming economic areas of the country. He wanted to know how Santa Cruz was rated in the top 15 cities with a population of under 500,000 for economic prosperity, population growth and income. I was puzzled by the inquiry and asked where he found this data report.
The Personal finance website GOBankingRates analyzed 347 American cities with populations of 500,000 or under, looking for places experiencing a combination of economic prosperity, population growth and rising incomes. To rank the top "boomtowns," or cities that meet these criteria, the site looked at five-year data on population, housing, GDP and per capita income from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2017 American Community Survey and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. California cities showed up several times on the list including Santa Rosa, San Luis Obispo, Sacramento, Oxnard and Santa Cruz. These metro areas "offer incentives, such as a more affordable cost-of-living or a higher paycheck — or both," GOBankingRates reports.
The methodology used in the report analyzed 347 major U.S. cities along the following criteria in order to determine which “boomtowns” are seeing increasing incomes, as well as economic growth: (1) five-year change in population, from 2012 to 2017, (2) five-year change in the number of housing units, both sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017 American Community Survey; (3) five-year change in GDP, from 2012 to 2017, sourced from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which has this metric on the metropolitan area level; (4) per capita personal income and (5) five-year per capita personal income growth, sourced from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which has this metric on the metropolitan area level. For a city to be considered among the final list of cities, their change in population, housing units and per capita personal incomes must be positive, and current per capita personal incomes must be higher than the current national level of $51,640. In order to focus on “boomtowns,” a 500,000 population maximum restriction was used on the cities.
Ironically, the Chamber’s annual Community Leadership Visit (CLV) trip is set for September 12-14 and our destination is Ventura County where we’ll stay at the Embassy Suites at Mandalay Bay on the coast side of Oxnard, California. The Chamber team is putting together another fun and educational visit about Ventura and Oxnard, California where we’ll compare our region to their region — both in terms of economic drivers, environmental priorities, education, adequate and affordable housing, agriculture and tourism, transportation system improvements and a sustainable water supply to name of few policy areas.
So when this “out of the blue inquiry” came to me last week, I needed to pause for a second and ask how did Oxnard and Santa Cruz end up on this list? According to the report: Oxnard ranked number 27 over the five year period 2012-2017: • Income increase: 18.5% • Population increase: 4.7% • Housing increase: 0.1% • GDP increase: 11.4% Regarding the percentage increase in population, Oxnard falls in the bottom 10 out of the 30 cities. Its GDP increase is in the bottom two for the list. Its income increase percentage, however, is above the list’s average of 17.9%, going from $49,937 to $59,178 in five years.
Santa Cruz ranked number 12 on the list: • Income increase: 20.5% • Population increase: 6.1% • Housing increase: 0.9% • GDP increase: 23.3% When looking at the increases in salary by city, Santa Cruz’s percentage increase in income is in the top 10 for the list, and its GDP increase is only 1 percentage point below average. The city’s percentage increase in housing, however, is ranked in the bottom five for the list.
It is hard to compare California cities vs. cities outside the state as many of the components for comparison are based on national averages. We know that California (over all GDP) is ranked the number 5 or 6 economy in the World which, in my viewpoint, limits this report’s full economic picture of our region or Oxnard against the cities outside of our state. So the very fact that the “average California” salary moves Santa Cruz or Oxnard up national rankings in itself does not reflect other dominating issues that impact the two California coastal cities. The higher cost of living in California, the cost of coastal housing transportation costs based on vehicle miles traveled and cost of gas, food and utilities, outward employment migration to neighboring communities — Santa Cruz to Silicon Valley, Oxnard/Ventura to Santa Barbara or Los Angeles, and other “California only” expenses would be more reflective or specifically on the causal effect of our region’s economy.
Let’s take a look at the recent five years of economic and demographic output information from Santa Cruz and Oxnard to further examine the dynamics our coastal cities have in comparison to the nation.
One of the major attractions to participants of the Chamber’s CLV trips is the gathering of data from a variety of sources to compare and contrast Santa Cruz County to our destination — Ventura County. Looking again at Oxnard and Santa Cruz, we used the American Community Survey Data from the years 2013-2017 (five year period).
For Oxnard: · Median Household Income: o $60,784 to $64,837; a 6.67% increase · Population: o 199,574 to 206,732; a 3.59% increase · Total housing units: o 54,490 to 54,467; a .0422% decrease For the City of Santa Cruz: · Income: o $61,600 to $65,421; a 6.20% increase · Population: o 61,245 to 63,993; a 4.49% increase · Total housing units: o 23,353 to 24,092; a 3.16% increase
Statistics have a wonderful way of persuading your thesis. In the GOBankingRates reports they are driving the reader to think of these top 30 cities as destination places for a better job, higher income, and housing opportunities. However, the summary of their initial GoBankingRates report should not stop at the four pivot points. In reality, communities like Oxnard in Ventura County and Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz County need to expand the information base to fully understand the economic trends.
That is why the Santa Cruz County Chamber travels to different communities so we can get a firsthand look of the area. We listen and learn from their public sector and business leaders to better understand the dynamics of their region — beyond the numbers. On September 12-14 we will travel to Ventura County to visit the city of Ventura and Oxnard and learn about their economic activities — from agriculture to tourism, discuss their First Responder programs and emergency preparedness from the recent fires and floods. We’ll have a full 2 1/2 day travel agenda planned soon. We’ll also make a short return visit to Santa Barbara as a follow up to the Chamber’s 2014 CLV trip. The CLV has been a very popular event for our chamber members and our region’s public sector leaders. Registration will go live next week so stay tuned. If you have any questions about the CLV please contact me casey.Beyer@santacruzchamber.org