Demographic characteristics of Chicago's ZIP Code 60631

¶ … metropolitan city of Chicago. The area has a total population of 28886 persons. The socio economic class structure is dominated by the middle class or lower middle class families. The overall population is dominated by the females. Life expectancy is higher among females as compared to males.

The racial and ethnic composition of the area is dominated by whites followed by Asians, of which majority comprises of Indian origin. The third highest ethnicity is of blacks. There is little or no existence of Pacific Islanders or Native Americans.

The highest level of education in the area 60631 is of high school graduates. The second highest level of education is college attendance without a diploma while the third highest level of education is of bachelor's degree holders. The level of education from there onwards is on significant decline. Suggested reasons for this may be people opting out of educational institution to seek work or moving out of state for higher education and residing on college campuses.

The employment rate in the area is 48.8%. 0.55% families in the area live below poverty line. Some people who are above the age of 16 are dependent on parents or guardians income and do not work.

Introduction

Located in Illinois, Chicago is the largest and the most populous city in the state. Moreover, Chicago is the third most populous city in the United States of America. The city is a well developed urban setting with a rich amalgamation of people from various ethnicities. Due to the economic opportunities available, Chicago also hosts immigrants from a number of international destinations as well as immigrants from other American states. This paper aims at discussing the demographic of the zip code 60631 area of Chicago.

The 60631 area of Chicago is an urban setting that covers the areas of Edison Park and Norwood Park along the N. Northwest Highway and stretches up to Higgins road.

Population Structure

The total population of the area 60631 of Chicago is 28886 persons which makes approximately 1.1% of the total population of Chicago. Out of these 28886 people the male population makes up approximately 46% of the total population while the female population makes up about 54% of the total population of the area 60631. The Age Sex composition for the area 60631 is depicted in the population pyramid shown below.

Fig. 2

Fig. 2 shows the composition of males and females in each age group as a total percentage in that age group of area that exist in area 60631 of Chicago. The horizontal axis (x- axis) shows the age groups while the vertical axis (y- axis) shows the percentages. Fig. 2 implies that overall, each group is dominated by a higher percentage of females as a percentage of the total population in that age group. The chart also shows that as the ages increase the number of females increases while the male population is constantly declining. Possible reasons of this may include higher death rate among male population, more females households living in the area or less male residents, higher net immigration of females or higher net emigration of males.

Race and Ethnicity

The highest proportion of the total population living in area is dominated by the Whites. This is followed by the Asians and the Blacks. The overall composition of different races living in the area 60631 is shown in the figure below.

Fig. 3

Figure 3 shows the composition of races and ethnicities residing in the area 60631. The figure shows that the population is dominated by whites followed by Asians. Of the Asian population, the highest dominance is found to be of the Indian Asian origin. Pacific Islanders and Native Americans have minimalistic existence in this area (NHGIS, 2011).

Education

The education structure in the area 60631 shows that female tends to be more educated in general as compared to the males. The figure below shows the education structure of the area 60631.

Fig. 4

Figure 4 shows the education structure in area 60631. The figure shows that in each category, females outnumber the male population. The highest level of education attained of the total population is high school graduation (Hello Chicago, 2011). One reason of this might be that many people opt out of college and work wither for good, or temporary for wither arranging for tuition fee or because of not getting admission in the college of preferred choice. Another reason of behind the highest level of education being the high school is that many students, after graduating from high school, prefer living on their college or university campuses which means that migrate out of their residential premises. This is also one major factor why the education level after high school graduation has decline. The second highest level of education in the area is College attendance without a degree. This may imply that the number of college drop outs is high in the area. The third highest level of education in the area is people who have the bachelor's degree. Again the number of people having masters or doctorate degree is much lower than that of bachelor's degree holders. This might be either due to more people opting to work over higher education or moving out of city or state to out state university campuses in pursuit of higher degrees.

Economic Statistics

The total employed civilian labor force in area 60631 is 48.8%. Out of this 25.9% of employed people comprises of male while the other 22.9% constitutes the females. 32.6% of population that is over the age of 16 is not working. 1.5% of the population is unemployed (Movoto, 2011). The high proportion of people who are above 16 years of age but are not working may be due to the reason that they are continuing to study and therefore are not working and are dependent on parents or guardian. 0.55% of families in the area live below poverty line of which 0.4% comprises of married couples. The median household income in the area is $55,316 while the per capita income amounts to $28,128. About 85.7% of the families in the area reside in their own houses while 14.3% of the families live in rented houses.