MOCO Map of the Week--Percent White by Census Tract 2010

Today's map looks at the distribution of the white population in Montgomery county.  People who identify as white comprise 59% of the population in Montgomery County.  The white share of MOCO's population is slightly higher than it is for the state of Maryland (58.2%), but substantially lower than it is for the country as a whole (72.4%). 

Two patterns stand out from this map.  First, the white population in Montgomery is clustered in three places--along DC's western border (and extending along the Potomac), in the county's most western tracts, and in the northern tip of the county.  Second, there are four tracts where the white population is greater than 90%, and all of them are located inside the beltway in Friendship Heights/Bethesda (see mini-map below). 

MOCO Map of the Week--Percent Black/African American by Census Tract, 2010

Today's map looks at the distribution of Montgomery County's Black/African American population by census tract.

People who identify as Black or African American comprise 16.62% of MOCO's population.  Their share in MOCO is lower than it is for the state (29.4%), but higher than it is in the country as a whole (12.6%).

A few spatial patterns stand out on today's map.  First, the Black/African American population is spatially clustered in two places in the county--Gaithersburg/Montgomery Village and along the border with Prince George's County.  Second, the top 5 census tracts with the highest percentages of Black/African American residents are all located on the eastern edge of the county (either bordering the county, or bordering a census tract that does). Finally, the county's Black/African American population is largely concentrated outside the beltway, despite a significant cluster along the northeastern border of DC.

Next map will look at statistically significant clusters of the Black/African American population.  Stay tuned! 

Map notes:  The data for this map is from the 2010 census.  The census does not disaggregate between people who identify as African American and those who identify as Black (usually, though not always people from other countries with African heritage).  

MOCO Map of the Week--Median Age by Census Tract, 2010

MOCO Musings is introducing a new feature starting today--Map of the Week!  Today's map answers the question 'how old is Montgomery County?'  

The US Census Bureau reports that the county's median age in 2010 was 38.5 years.  This figure means we are slightly older than the US as a whole, which has a median age of 37.2.  There is, however, considerable variation when we look at median age by census tract.  The range across MOCO's 215 census tracts is substantial, ranging from 29.1 on the low end to 82.8 on the high end.  On the map below, the darker the tract, the higher the median age. 

The tract with the oldest median age (tract 703218) is located on the east side of Georgia Ave. just south of the Intercounty Connector.  Not surprisingly, a retirement community, Leisure World, takes us the majority of the tract.  The tract with the lowest median age (701422) is further east, along Columbia Pike, on the northside of the Intercounty Connector.   

Look for a map about once a week!