For better or worse, we live in a data-driven world, and there’s no turning back.
For all the questions about privacy and security, the data is out there. And businesses would be foolish not to collect as much of it as possible to gain competitive advantages.
Our cover story this week is about data, specifically data from ESRI, a California company that gathers all kinds of demographic data. We looked at ESRI’s ZIP code-specific information that ranked the wealthiest ZIP codes in the Tri-County region.
The raw data is interesting enough. Put it in a cool graphic, like the map we have on page 9, and the story jumps off the page.
The biggest money is clearly just beyond the Berks County border in Chester and Montgomery counties. That’s where you see average household incomes more than $150,000. That’s where you see average home values approaching $500,000.
There are pockets of that kind of wealth in Berks, of course. But, as Ellen Horan of the Greater Reading Chamber noted, they tend not to be as concentrated.
“Wealth is spread out, making it difficult to attract some retailers who want to see critical mass to build a store,” Horan told reporter Erin Negley. “That map shows why we don’t have a Wegman’s.”
Data such as ESRI’s is like oxygen for big national retailers and the commercial developers they work with to figure out where to put new stores.
So the next time you’re wondering why Aldi opens a new store here or why Wegman’s doesn’t, know they have their reasons.
Because the data is out there.
