Monday, September 20, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Correction, 9/21/04 - A story on ZIP code characteristics in Monday's Living section misstated the ZIP code in the Las Vegas Valley with the highest percentage of residents 65 or older. That ZIP code is 89134.
WHERE WE LIVE: Breaking the Code
A closer look at valley ZIP numbers offers revealing information
By JOAN WHITELY
REVIEW-JOURNAL
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To the concept of paint-by-number, let's add the concept of "analyze by number."
The U.S. Postal Service has conveniently sliced the nation into small service areas called ZIP codes. Each ZIP is, as most know, designated by a five-digit number.
The ZIP code has turned out to be a handy unit for all sorts of researchers. Sociologists, marketers, even the experts who study crime patterns all "go postal," by using ZIP codes to develop neighborhood profiles and identify trends.
Some ZIP code statistics are free for reviewing on the Internet. Other data is carefully collected, closely guarded and sold at high prices to industries that use the information to target customers.
The Envirofacts Data Warehouse of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, for example, is one of the free online data banks.
Worried about the potential environmental risks in your neighborhood? Go to http://oaspub.epa.gov/enviro/ef_home2.maps. Envirofacts enables a person to find out all of the facilities in any ZIP code that use chemicals that are monitored by the EPA. Find out how many gas stations, dry cleaners or auto repair shops are in your neighborhood.
Curious about which ZIP codes have the highest concentration of gay and lesbian residents? The Web site of Gay Market Express (www.gaymarketexpress.com) doesn't exhaustively list every single ZIP code, just the top 50 in the nation, based on its analysis of visits to gay and lesbian Web sites. The list starts with West Hollywood, Calif., which Gay Market Express believes has the highest concentration of gays, and ends up with Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in 50th place. No Nevada ZIP code is listed in the top 50.
For your perusing pleasure, we have provided a range of demographic, financial and crime-related data on the ZIP codes that make up the Las Vegas Valley.
Use the following grids (click on the links) to check on the characteristics of the ZIP code where you live or work, where you used to live, where you want to live, where your boss lives -- just to mention a few of the possible scenarios:
• DEMOGRAPHIC DATA
• FINANCIAL DATA
• CRIME 2003: LAS VEGAS AND UNINCORPORATED CLARK COUNTY
We collected the data with these principal questions in mind: Who lives in the ZIP code? What is their financial level? What types of crime are occurring in each ZIP, and how many?
When it comes to ethnicity, Clark County is more diverse than the nation as a whole, according to the 2000 census.
The United States is 69.1 percent white -- Clark County is 60.2 percent white.
The nation is 12.5 percent Hispanic, the county is 22 percent Hispanic.
The nation is 12.1 percent black, and the county is 8.8 percent black.
The only local ZIP code that is 100 percent white, according to the 2000 census, is 89011, which includes Lake Las Vegas in Henderson.
The ZIP code with the highest percentage of Hispanic residents is 89101 in the central city, at 53.4 percent.
The ZIP code with the highest representation of black residents is 89106 in the central city, at 45 percent.
As to wealth, Las Vegas Perspective 2004, a publication that lists various statistics about Southern Nevada, reports the ZIP code with the highest median household income is 89011 ($93,678).
Those with the lowest median household income live in 89101 ($19,428).
Keep in mind that ZIP codes don't honor city lines. Some straddle a border, with parts of the same ZIP code falling in different cities.
Also, the post office adds ZIP codes whenever a population significantly expands.
Because Southern Nevada is growing so fast, the post office has added many ZIP codes to the valley in recent years. So, information from the 2000 U.S. census, for example, won't be available on our charts for any ZIP codes that were formed after 2000.
Don't forget, either, that 2000 census data is already 4 years old. With a population as dynamic as that of Las Vegas, changes may have occurred that aren't yet reflected in official statistics.
