The contiguous United States in eleven zip codes: identifying and mapping socio-economic census data clusters and exemplars using affinity propagation

Abstract

2020) The contiguous United States in eleven zip codes: identifying and mapping socio-economic census data clusters and exemplars using affinity propagation, Journal of Maps, 16:1, 57-67, ABSTRACTThe United States is a diverse and heterogeneous place. Accurately organizing and mapping the U.S. into different regions based on characteristics such as wealth, race, education, language, and occupation is a complicated and arduous task. This paper demonstrates the application of affinity propagation to map socio-economic patterns and identify representative exemplars. Affinity propagation clusters data based on representative exemplars and considers all data points as potential cluster exemplars. We use socio-economic data from the United States census to cluster zip codes tabulation areas and identify representative locations of socio-economic diversity of the United States. The 11 socio-economic clusters were mapped individually and together using area-based generalization. Mapping the results illustrated distinct regionalization and historical migration trends within the United States as well as national urban/suburban/rural patterns. Future applications of this technique may be useful for data-driven socio-economic analysis and purposive sampling. ARTICLE HISTORY

A Data-Driven Algorithm to Redefine the U.S. Rural Landscape: Affinity Propagation as a Mixed-Data/Mixed-Method Tool

“…In this work, we do not intend to deliver the best representation possible for human landscape typologies; rather, we want to demonstrate a data-driven approach, acknowledging remaining limited subjectivity. Specifically, we build upon Heumann et al (2020) who mapped socioeconomic typologies for zip codes in the United States as well as other works on defining and mapping socioeconomic typologies and rurality (Chinni & Gimpel, 2010; Copus, 2015; Dicka et al, 2019; Goss, 1995; Green et al, 1967; Van Eupen et al, 2012; Weiss, 1989). We enrich those works by using a wider range of input attributes and a finer spatial scale of analysis, which will result in a more nuanced definition of rurality.…”

“…Socioeconomic data are from the American Community Survey (ACS), as the 5-year estimates (2008–2012) for the 32,989 ZCTAs are based on the 2010 census (United States Census Bureau, 2010, 2011). We compiled and cleaned the data as described in Heumann et al (2020). We acknowledge that more recent data are available.…”

“…Frey and Dueck also stated that AP is more efficient than k-centers. As described by Heumann et al (2020), AP has been applied across a range of fields, such as band selection in remote sensing (Qian et al, 2003), landscape ecology (Cardille & Lambois, 2010), genetics (Kiddle et al, 2010), and engineering (Hassanabadi et al, 2014). Aside from Heumann et al, the most closely related application of AP is Cardille and Lambois, who used AP to define landscape typologies in the United States and found that all typologies include evidence of human modification.…”

“…The selection of the preference value is subjective. While the FAQ on Dr. Frey's website (now unavailable) recommended using the median or minimum dissimilarity value, Heumann et al (2020) found that these resulted in far too many clusters to be useful (i.e., hundreds of clusters). While this is a testament to the heterogeneity of the United States, we make commonalities easier to recognize.…”

“…At the same time, researchers and practitioners alike seek representative places in which to test or compare policies. As Heumann et al (2020) described, the identification of representative places goes back almost 100 years in the United States (i.e., Lynd & Lynd, 1929).…”