This is a brief comparison of definitions for “middle neighborhoods” in Baltimore. The two definitions being compared are:
U.S. Census data being used are the 2012-2016 (5-year) American Community Survey estimates.
Are there any other definitions we should consider?
incomplete final line found on 'https://data.baltimorecity.gov/resource/h3fx-54q3.geojson'
This map shows only middle neighborhoods based on HMT (includes only typologies D through H). Black borders and labels-on-hover are for neighborhoods. At first glance, this removes neighborhoods within the “white L” and “black butterfly” neighborhoods of Baltimore, with most everything else remaining.
Breaking “middle” into “lower middle” (F, G, H) and “upper middle” (D, E) and including “healthy” and "distressed:
This map shows only middle neighborhoods based on the median income definition - that is, block groups where the household median income is between 75% and 125% of the area median income (Baltimore-Columbia-Towson for 2016). Qualitatively, this results in a more sparse and disjointed definition of middle neighborhoods.
The map below overlays the two definitions.