Demographics & Economics of Neighborhoods in Providence, RI

Providence is the capitol city of Rhode Island. Providence was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, on the ancestral land of the Narragansett nation.

This study aims to evaluate different aspects of demographics and economics of different neighborhoods in Providence, as well as their risks to flooding and their access to transportation. The goal is to conduct a general analysis of economic and population distribution, environmental risk (flooding), and access to transportation across neighborhoods. Specifically, I want to aim to answer the following questions:

1. How does median home value and percentage of population in poverty vary spatially across neighborhoods in Providence?
2. Is there a clear negative correlation between median home values and percent of population in poverty (do areas with a higher percent of poverty have lower home values and vice versa)?
3. What is the correlation between areas with low flood risk and economics (home value + poverty percentage) across neighborhoods?
4. What is the correlation between home access to transportation and economics (home value + poverty percentage) across neighborhoods?

There are a total of 25 neighborhoods in Providence, shown in the map below.

This map shows the distribution of percentage of population in poverty across neighborhoods in Providence, RI. It can be seen that the northeasternmost and northwesternmost points on the map have the lowest percentage of population in poverty, as well as the Reservoir neighborhood in the southern region. The neighborhoods with the highest percentage of population in poverty are Downtown and Olneyville. Generally the higher percentage of population in poverty are located in the central region of Providence.

There is a clear distribution of median home values across neighborhoods in Providence. There is the highest median home values located in the norrtheastern region of providence, and the lowest median home values in the western and southeastern regions of Providence.

Comparing the maps of median home values with percent of population in poverty across neighborhoods in Providence, it can be seen that generally the areas with the lowest median home values also have higher percentage of poulation in poverty (e.g. Olneyville, Upper South Providence, Lower South Providence). The exception of this correlation is Downtown, which shows the highest median home values and also the highest percentage of population in poverty; this reflects the poor concentrating around the city center.

Looking at the maps displaying areas within each neighborhood with 0.2% risk of flooding, it can be seen that there is the highest percentage of area with low flooding risk are in Washington Park, South Elmwood and Resevoir. The calculated percentages of area with low risk flooding in the area within each neighborhood shows that Washington park contains 42% area with low risk of flooding, and South Elmwoods and Reservoir both contain 35% area with low risk of flooding. These neighborhoods with the highest percentage of low risk of flooding area also have the lowest population density, low percent of population in poverty, and pretty high median home values.

The areas with the lowest percentage of areas with low risk of flooding are Elmhurst (0%), West End (0%), Federal Hill (0%), and Silver Lake (1%). There is less of a correlation seen here between neighborhoods with low percentage of area with low risk of flooding and median home value and percentage of poverty; Federal Hill has a higher median home and also a higher percentage of population in poverty, Silver Lake has a very low median home value and a higher percentage of population in poverty, Elmhurst has an intermediately high median home value and a very low percentage of population in poverty, and West End has an intermediately high median home value and a high percentage of population in poverty. Due to the differences in these relationships between areas with low percentage of area with low risk of flooding and median home price and percentage of population in poverty, no correlation can be said to exist here.

• Neighborhoods with the greatest percent of households that own 5+ vehicles are Fox Point, Lower South Providence, West End, and Hope.
  • Hope has the lowest range of percentage of population in poverty, but Fox Point, Lower South Providence and West End all have higher percent of population in poverty.
  • Hope, Fox Point, Lower South Providence, and West End all have different range of median home values, so there is no clear connection between median home value and households with access to 5+ vehicles.
  • No significant correlation between households with 5+ vehicles and pecentage of poulation in poverty and median home values.
• Neighborhoods with the lowest percent of households with access to 1 vehicle all are located close to the central part of Providence, and all have higher percentage of population in poverty and greater median home value.
  • There is a positive correlation between low percent of households with access to 1 vehicle and areas with a high percentage of population in poverty and higher median home values.
• Generally there is a higher percentage of households that own either 1 vehicle or 5+ vehicles on the outskirt neighborhoods of Providence rather than the center neighborhoods.

Conclusions:

1. Generally, the northeasternmost and northwesternmost neighborhoods in Providence have the lowest percentage of population in poverty. The neighborhoods with the highest percentage of population in poverty are Downtown and Olneyville.
2. Generally, the highest median home values located in the northeastern neighborhoods of Providence, and the lowest median home values in the western and southeastern neighborhoods of Providence.
   1. Generally the areas with the lowest median home values also have higher percentage of poulation in poverty (with the exception of downtown which has a high median home value).
3. Areas with a high percentage of area with low risk of flooding have a positive correlation with high median home value and low percentage of population in poverty.
4. Areas with low percentage of area with low risk of flooding have no correlation with median home value and percentage of population in poverty.
5. There is a positive correlation between low percent of households with access to 1 vehicle and areas with a high percentage of population in poverty and higher median home values.
6. There is no correlation between high percent of household with access to 5+ vehicles and median home values and percentage of population in poverty.

Citations:

1. Providence Neighborhoods Basic Demographics Population Density (2019) [Feature Layer] City of Providence, MassGIS, Esri Canada, Esri, HERE, Garmin, GeoTechnologies, Inc., USGS, METI/NASA, EPA, USDA. Resource URL:  https://neighborhood-snapshots-pvdgis.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/pvdgis::providence-neighborhoods-basic-demographics-popdens/about  [Date accessed: 4/21/21].

2. Providence Neighborhoods Housing Economics (2019) [Feature Layer] City of Providence, MassGIS, Esri Canada, Esri, HERE, Garmin, GeoTechnologies, Inc., USGS, METI/NASA, EPA, USDA. Resource URL:  https://neighborhood-snapshots-pvdgis.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/pvdgis::providence-neighborhoods-housing-economics/about   [Date accessed: 4/21/21].

3. Providence Transportation Neighborhoods (2019) City of Providence, MassGIS, Esri Canada, Esri, HERE, Garmin, GeoTechnologies, Inc., USGS, METI/NASA, EPA, USDA. Resource URL:  https://neighborhood-snapshots-pvdgis.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/pvdgis::transportation-neighborhoods/about   [Date accessed: 4/21/21].

4. Providence Areas with a 0.2% Flood Risk by Neighborhood (2019) City of Providence, MassGIS, Esri Canada, Esri, HERE, Garmin, GeoTechnologies, Inc., USGS, METI/NASA, EPA, USDA. Resource URL:  https://neighborhood-snapshots-pvdgis.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/pvdgis::areas-with-a-1-percent-or-point2-percent-flood-risk-by-neighborhood/about   [Date accessed: 4/21/21].