Carbondale Bytelife

Out of curiosity, I dug up the statistics for some other college towns: Rolla, Mo, Springfield Mo, Columbia, M0, Cape Girardeau Mo, Mattoon Il and Kirksville Mo. With the exception of Kirksville, all of them have poverty levels under 20%. Kirksville is most like Carbondale, in that it is a relatively small rural community, dominated by a college, and without direct interstate access. Not quite as steep as Carbondale, it still has a 30% poverty rate.

Labels: Carbondale, college, poverty

After looking at the figures more and considering some of the comments, something else became apparent. The student population at SIUC has remained pretty constant since the early 90s, fluctuating maybe a couple of hundred students a year or so. However, the Carbondale poverty rate increased by 5% during the period from 1999 to 2007, so whoever was getting poorer, it wasn't the students.

Labels: Carbondale, Economics, poverty, siuc

I was doing some reading last night on the Census Bureau's website and found the number of people living below the poverty line in Carbondale stunning. 41% of the C'dale population, as of 1999, the most recent figure, are classified as living in poverty. In Jackson County, it's only 20% and in Williamson and Union counties, only 14%. The county figures are for 2004 so maybe it's due to the Carbondale data being older and things have improved since 1999?

Nope, if anything, they've gotten worse.

Labels: Carbondale, economy, poverty

My recent blog about the 2007 election primary in Carbondale dealt with the election candidates (eight out of eleven) deliberately not using of the Internet for voter communications. I intentionally listed the candidate’s age along with a representative web address providing information about either their campaign, background, or other presence on the web.

One reader questioned if publishing the age of the candidate had any significance. The answer is simple. Age has always had an influence of technology adoption, as have other factors, particularly race, income, and geography. But there is more to the story.

Labels: age, election, poverty, race, technology