Arithmophiles' Bible

Check out Crain's 2007 City Facts edition, if it's not too late to pick up a copy. It's 22 glorious pages of tables, charts, and graphs - an arithmophile's dream-come-true. Subject areas run the gamut, from demographics, to employment, to health care and transportation, and many in between.

I'd like to highlight a few interesting statistics from the 2007 City Facts, as they relate to my previous post on resolving New York City's transportation crisis through economic development:

Economy
The per-capital personal income in Manhattan 2005 exceeded $90,000, a 5.2 percent increase from 2004. While Manhattanites are earning more than those in the outer boroughs, they are also increasing their wages faster, as annual percent change in the outer boroughs range from 1.9 percent in Brooklyn to 2.9 percent in Queens. Meanwhile, average salaries in Manhattan are also more than twice as high as those in the outer boroughs. The inavailability of high-paying jobs in the outer boroughs puts more pressure on the transit system to bring more workers into Manhattan every morning.

Public Transportation
The number of people riding commuter rail and the subway have resumed their upward climb since slight reductions between 2001 and 2003, and are now as high at a 37-year high. If congestion pricing were initiated in Manhattan, and individuals who had once driven decide to take public transit, I wonder if our city's public transit could absorb the increase while attempting to improve its own infrastructure.

It still seems to me the answer to the city's transportation crisis lies in attracting a greater diversity of jobs to the outer boroughs and suburban areas. Further developing job centers throughout the metro area is good for transportation, good for local economies, and good for families.