Exploring Regional Socioeconomic Dynamics: Childcare, Income, Unemployment, and Poverty Insights

STA/ISS 313 - Spring 2024 - Project 1

Statistical Six

Introduction to Project

  • Project objective: Investigate socioeconomic dynamics across US regions using childcare and economic data of every US county from 2008-2018

  • Two relationships we will visualize to understand these nuances, both focused on regional differences:

    • 1 - Median household income and median annual childcare cost (preschool-aged)

    • 2 - Distribution of poverty rate and unemployment rate over time

Approach to Question 1

Question 1: In 2018, how does the relationship between median household income and median annual childcare cost (preschool-aged) differ across regions of the United States and between Family Childcare versus Center-Based Care?

  • Utilize scatter plot to show how median household income changes with median childcare expenses for preschoolers

  • Separate childcare costs into two types of childcare: Center-based and Family (caregiver operates out of their own home)

  • Facet for different regions of the US: New England, Middle Atlantic, Midwest, Southeast, Southwest, West

Question 1 Plot

Figure 1

Approach to Question 2

From 2008 to 2018, how does the poverty rate and the unemployment rate change across regions of the United States?

  • Stacked line and ribbon plots to show the mean and standard deviation of the rates, respectively

  • Include both the regional unemployment and poverty rates, with each indicated by color

  • Once again, we will facet for different regions of the US

  • Goal is to see if unemployment rate and poverty rate change in similar ways, and how these rates may differ by region

Question 2 Plot

Figure 2

Summary of Discussion

  • Positive relationship between median household income and the median annual cost of childcare across all regions, though steepness of slopes differ

  • Mean poverty rate increases from 2008-2013 and decreases from 2013-2018, with a clear peak in 2013, across all regions

  • Large differences in standard deviations of unemployment rate across regions, smaller but still notable differences in standard deviations of poverty rate across regions