Link to Census Map
The map I chose to analyze was the "Percent family households." The counties with high percentages of family homes seem pretty randomly dispersed, but there were a few trends and locations that stood out. Across the Rockies there is a high percentage of family houses. One trend I saw was that there is a high percentage in suburbs surrounding major cities. The region with the highest percentage of families is the South and the region with the lowest is the North East. The Divisions with the highest percentages are East South Central, West South Central, South Atlantic, and East North Central. On the contrary the Middle atlantic and New England divisions have low percentages of households with families. Surrounding Washington D.C. and the western border of Texas have high numbers of houses with families.
There are numerous reasons for potentially why there are high percentages of family houses in these areas. One possible reason why there were high percentages in suburbs near large cities could be that since there are many jobs in the cities and people with families are generally working age so these counties most likely attract families. Younger people and those without children tend to live in the city because of the city life and quick access to work, but once people have kids they normally prefer to live in a larger house with a yard. Also good school districts attract families so the higher percentages of family households probably have better school districts to attract even more families. A reason why there are fewer family houses in the country is probably related to commuting to work and how long it takes kids to get to school. The average age and the percentage of residents over 65 directly correlates to the percentages of households with families. In the warmer areas of the U.S. there are fewer family households because of the many retired citizens who go there for retirement.
The percentage of family house holds has an impact on an area economically, politically, culturally and socially. It affects an area economically because where there are more families there tends to be more jobs so an area will probably prosper more than if there were few families. The percentage affects an area politically. An example of this is that generally people with kids will be more likely to vote for the levy than people with no kids so the school districts should be better where there is a higher percentage of families. Areas with large numbers of families generally have larger neighborhoods of homes so if you live in an area with lots of families you will most likely have neighbors close by and it would probably would be harder to find a large and private piece of land. Locations with high numbers of families probably attract other families, but might detract those without kids because they generally would like to meet others who don't already have a family. There are many push and pull factors to living in a family oriented community which is why families generally attract families and non-families attract non-families.
