Statistical Proof: Somerville is young, old, liberal, and green

[ryanwanger.livejournal.com]

If you love random statistics, stay away from www.city-data.com

From their Top 100 lists, which covers US cities of 5000+ residents:

Somerville has some of the Oldest Houses - Average of 61.3 Years Old - 41st overall (Whiting, Indiana is #1)
Somerville has some of the Oldest Housing but Youngest Residents - Average age of 31.1 Years Old - 11th overall (Oneata, NY is #1, Cambridge, is 56th, Boston 63rd)

And from their Top 101 Lists:
Somerville has one of the largest gay male populations - 59th overall (Cambridge is 41st and Boston is 11th)
Somerville has one of the largest lesbian populations - 13th overall (Cambridge is 5th, and Boston is 37th)
Despite our seemingly full street parking outlook, Somerville has very few cars per household - 15.4% of all households have no vehicle - 16th overall (10 of the cities above it are in the NY/NJ metro area, Boston is 17th overall, Cambridge is 27th)
Very few people drive alone to work in Somerville - 45.3% - 52nd overall (Cambridge is 19th, Boston is 40th)
Somerville has one of the highest percentages of people taking the subway to work - 18.5% - 10th overall (3rd excluding NY/NJ, Cambridge is 17th, Boston is 18th, and MA has 7 of the top 20)
Somerville has tons of people who bike to work - 2.8% - 72nd overall (Cambridge is 35th)

I guess part of me always thought we just SAID we were awesome. Nice to have some actual proof!

Phew. Anyone see any that I missed?

(I've also posted this over on my blog complete with hyperlinks to each of the individual lists)

Comments

[nonnihil.livejournal.com]

This raises an interesting and amusing survey question: How much younger/older are you than the house you live in?

I'm ~70 years younger than my house. I bet there are a lot of us in that range...

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

56 years younger than my house.

[ron_newman]

28 years younger than my apartment building.

[cityofbeige.livejournal.com]

About 100 years younger here.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

About 55 years younger, give or take a few years.

[ryanwanger.livejournal.com]

Give or take whose? Yours, or the house?

[narya.livejournal.com]

Mine is 73 years older than I am according to city records but 78 if I believe the records of the family that built the place.

[avjudge]

If the city records say 1900, you absolutely can't believe them. They just stuck that date on anything they didn't have a date for. My house is listed that way, but it's at least 26 years older, appearing (still owned by the builder, though others in the development were sold) on the 1873 map in the Somerville library.

(And my house is 87 years older than me.)

me too ... 70 years younger than this old house

[winterhill.livejournal.com]

but we're both a little creakier than we used to be.

[marphod.livejournal.com]

~80 years younger.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

120 years younger than the last house. 80 years younger than this one.

[ron_newman]

I'm surprised that Somerville, with one subway station, would have a higher percentage of subway commuters than Cambridge, with six.

[ryanwanger.livejournal.com]

Good point Ron. My guesses:
-Somerville doesn't have a lot of jobs, so everyone has to leave the city for work whereas Cambridge has a lot of people (and students) that can potentially walk/bike (as shown, they are higher up on the bike to work ranking, and http://www.city-data.com/top2/h39.html which shows that almost 25% of people in Cambridge walk to work)
-I see more people commuting into Cambridge on the T for work, than out of (or within) Cambridge for work

Either way, let's not make this too public...or they'll rethink the green line extension! Or maybe it's extra motivation, can you imagine how high that percentage will jump when it's finally built? If we can go from 18.5% to 32.5%...we'll be #1 (outside of NY/NJ)...although the only two non NY/NJ cities ahead of us already are tiny (5000 and 8000 people)

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

We have 2 subway stations (Davis and Sullivan Square).

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

I would agree that Cambridge is a working city, which means many people who live there work there. Somerville I think leans much more to the residential city.

I think more people at my work live near davis than live near all the cambridge redline stops combined. Though that's just a small sample of my friends there but still...

As for age difference, the house I grew up in is 216 years older than me, roughly :)

[lena-a-mermaid.livejournal.com]

Okay Davis Square is in Somerville and is technically our only Subway station, but Porter and Sullivan are a stone's throw from Somerville and our busses take us to Lechemere, Harvard and Central. Its not like we are isolated and can only take the Subway from Davis Square.

[ifotismeni]

very cool!

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Me too! I quickly felt very at home here.

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

Hey Ryan, what did happen to your blog? I've been reading (and commenting a bit) with interest, but now it appears to be invite only. Are you in trouble with the Man?

[ryanwanger.livejournal.com]

Yeah, so I received a phone call from another broker who wasn't too happy that I was making comments about his property. It's down temporarily while I make sure that everything in it is kosher.

Nice assessment.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Your blog now requires me to be invited. I've been reading since the beginning, what gives?

[ryanwanger.livejournal.com]

Sorry about that. It was suggested to me that I might be breaking some rules with what I have been posting. It needs a break for a day or two, but will be back.

[ron_newman]

When will you invite all of us back to your blog?

It's gone...forever

[ryanwanger.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I skipped town. I live in Colorado, and am not doing real estate anymore!