Who Earns More in San Joaquin County?

Typically, the higher the educational attainment, the higher the productivity and people with higher productivity earn higher wages.  For that reason, more higher earning people living in a community increases the likelihood that the community shows better living attributes such as quality of school, housing, and other local amenities.  It is interesting to see where the higher earning population chooses to live within the county.

As shown in the figure below, the residences of the higher earning population tend to concentrate at the north-eastern part of San Joaquin County bordering Sacramento County and in Tracy bordering Alameda County.  The pattern suggests that these higher earning people tend to live in clusters of nearby neighborhoods.

Among the highest earners are those living in locations surrounding Tracy, Manteca, Country Club, West of Eight Mile Road and Lodi, where more than 30% of their working residents earned $50,000 or more in 2000.  It is not surprising that these places are located in the vicinity of three major highways including I-5, US-120, and US-12.  Further examination of the data shows that many of these workers are out-commuters, who work outside of the county.  Census data confirms that county residents who commute to work in the Bay Area and Sacramento Counties on average earn higher wages than local workers (who live and work within the county).

Among the lowest earners are those living in locations surrounding the city of Stockton and Terminous.