Overview

This data was pulled from a database which I located via Opportunity Insights. 2,202 colleges and universities are listed in this database, each with an estimated median value for parent income and kid income for students born between 1980-1982. Data was collected/calculated from the year 2014.

Plot 1: Distribution of Parent Income

I am plotting the estimated median income of the parents of college graduates born between 1980-1982 by college/university. I am including this plot to demonstrate that the median parent incomes are generally clustered between 60,000-100,000 dollars per household. There are, however, a non-negigible number of schools in which the median parent household income is above 150,000 dollars, suggesting that there are a small but notable number of institutions that generally serve higher-income students. Similarly, there are quite a few schools that primarily lower-income students. The broad distribution of this graph illustrates the disparities of economic representation between institutions in the United States.

I used a dark blue bar border with a light blue fill to visually differentiate between each bar and to make the data stand out from the background and text.

Plot 2: Distribution of Kid Income

I am plotting the estimated median income of the college graduates born between 1980-1982 by college/university. From this data, it appears that a significant majority of institutions produced graduates earning between 25,000-40,000 dollars per year. However, there are a small number of institutions from which graduates earned a median of over 75,000 dollars per year. This suggests that this relatively small number of schools are considered elite in terms of producing high-earning graduates.

I used a dark red bar border with a light pink fill to visually differentiate between each bar and to make the data stand out from the background and text.

Plot 3: Kid Median Income vs. Parent Median Income

I am plotting the estimated median income of college graduates born between 1980-1982 against the median income of the parents of these students by college/university. I chose to conclude with this plot because the positive relationship between the income of college graduates and their parents is visible. The income of a college graduate’s parents appears to be highly predictive of that person’s own income.

I chose to format the individual data points as empty dots because this format more clearly depicts the density of data clustering, further emphasizing the positive correlation between the two variables. I also colored these dots dark blue to stand out from the black/white/gray of the background and text of the plot.