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Map of the Month

September 2012

This map shows the distribution of FasTrak toll crossings generated by each county in the Bay Area. As expected, the distribution generally shows that counties closest to a bridge account for a greater share of FasTrak usage. However, some toll crossings — such as the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges — draw a significant share of users from distant counties. For instance, 32% of FasTrak customers from San Mateo County use the Bay Bridge, while 11% of both San Mateo and Santa Clara County customers use the Golden Gate Bridge.

June 2012

This map illustrates the racial and ethnic diversity in the Bay Area from Census 2010. Racial diversity is measured by a diversity index that is calculated using US Census racial and ethnic population characteristics from the PL-94 data file. The diversity index is a quantitative measure of the distribution of the proportion of five major ethnic populations (non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, Asian and Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and Two or more races). The index ranges from 0 (low diversity meaning only one group is present) to 1 (meaning an equal proportion of all five groups is present).

The diversity score for the United States in 2010 is 0.60. The diversity score for the Bay Area is 0.84. Within the Bay Area, Solano (0.89) and Alameda (0.90) Counties are the most diverse and the remaining North Bay (0.55 – 0.64) Counties are the least diverse.

April 2012

This map illustrates the Nation's top five most densely populated Urban Areas as tabulated by Census 2010. Four of these areas are in California. The San Francisco-Oakland and San Jose Urban Areas rank second and third, respectively. That the New York Metropolitan area ranks fifth on this list shows that this density ranking is greatly affected by the nature of the land area designated as urban. Census Urban Areas comprise an urban core and associated suburbs. California's urban and suburban areas are more uniform in density when compared to New York's urban core and suburban periphery which have vastly different densities. Delano ranks fourth because it has a very small land area and its population is augmented by two large California State Prisons housing 10,000 inmates.

March 2012

The map shows the Center for Neighborhood Technology's Housing and Transportation (H+T) Affordability Index using 2009 American Community Survey Data. Compared side-by-side is the cost of housing as a percent of income (on the right) with the cost of housing and transportation as a percent of income (on the left) for an average household at the county level. The average housing cost of five Bay Area counties does not exceed 30% of average household income. When taking into consideration the added cost of transportation, however, only three Bay Area counties – Alameda, San Francisco, and Santa Clara – do not exceed the 50% threshold for combined cost.

February 2012

This map illustrates the variation by metropolitan area of income levels required to be in the top 1% of earners. While a U.S. household must earn greater than $380,000 to rank in the top 1% of all American households, a much higher income is required in most of California’s coastal communities.

January 2012

In the map, we have color-coded the number of years since each of the 50 states last raised taxes on gasoline. On the positive, side, quite a few states managed to raise rates within the past year, although California adjustment was actually part of a revenue neutral gas tax/sales tax scrap. On a negative rate, about one-half the states have not raised their gasoline taxes in more than a decade. Also, by special request of Commissioner Haggerty, I’ve included a bonus map which represents the proposed BART system that was presented to Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco voters at the election approving construction of the system in November 1962.

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