Data Visualization

My new topic for the Data Visualization Project, will examine which zip codes in Baltimore have the highest private school rates. By adding race, income level, and highest degree earned on average, I hope to show a correlation between people’s backgrounds and whether or not they send their child to public/private school. I think the areas with the some of the largest ranges of income level will show the largest number of children attending private schools. I think that because due to the strong correlation between income levels of the neighborhoods and school quality, more privileged families will send their children to private schools.  This issue seems more prevalent in Baltimore than other areas due to the sporadic gentrification of Baltimore. Loyola is a perfect example of this as it sits both on Cold Spring Lane, and York Road; two very different neighborhoods. Due to this fact, more allocations for public schools need to be made to counter the low amount of tax dollars for the area. A problem I might run into is that certain zip codes are both in Baltimore and Baltimore county, which might skew data. Furthermore, that data only describes a certain zip code in full rather than different zones in a zip code. I plan on visualizing this data with a map of Baltimore divided by zip codes. I have a plan to put a pie chart for race demographic but I am not sure on how to illustrate the other information. Finally, I haven’t decided whether to make the map have an antiqued feel or a modern one. Overall, I plan on using warm colors for the areas with the most disparity in data. I plan to glean most of my data from American Fact Finder.