Analyzing Income Gap in Bexar County after the COVID Pandemic

Problem

Rising economic growth in certain pockets of San Antonio has placed the city at risk for deepening poverty in other areas of Bexar County. Although the county’s average income in 2023 was significantly higher than in 2019, census-tract level choropleth map shows a widening gap in average income by tract between neighborhoods, with greater inequality and a less equitable distribution of wealth across the city.

Plots

A side-by-side comparison of tract-level average median income in 2019 and 2023 reveals a widening spatial divide. A spiraling pattern of low to high income with central San Antonio as the focal point of the income gap between poorer and wealthier neighborhoods across the county. The accompanying distribution graph further provides an illustration of the growing incoming inequality in San Antonio, despite an the county’s overall increase in household income.

Analysis

The spatial analysis of income gaps in Bexar County shows an increasing and widening divide between central and outer neighborhoods. In both 2019 and 2023, central San Antonio census tracts remain significantly below the county median income, while high-income tracts concentrate around the northern and far-northwest areas. However, Post-COVID, the maps reveal a noticeable larger cluster of red (negative gaps), while high-income neighborhoods shifted further above the county average income (darker gradation of blue). These findings suggest that Bexar County economic growth after COVID-19 was not distributed evenly.

Conclusion

These trends inform urban developers and planners of much needed action towards reducing spatial inequality by targeting infrastructure investment across the county and equitable housing development. While market rate housing and commercial spaces help bolster the economy, they must be in compliment to equity-focused interventions such as targeted-support for low income households and community re-investment programs to counteract widening disparities that will inevitably lead to poverty-pockets in San Antonio.
Note that the echo = FALSE parameter was added to the code chunk to prevent printing of the R code that generated the plot.