The Situation
You are a reporter in Broward County, Fla., where your beat is growth and development. Your editor asks you how much growth Broward can expect in the next 30 years, and how its growth will compare to that of other Florida counties (fortunately, Florida has far fewer counties than Iowa does). Your editor also wonders how much clout Broward will have with statewide elected officials in the future -- will it grow or shrink.
To start off, you obtain population projections for Florida counties. This information comes from the University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research and extend through the year 2020. You also receive 1990 census figures for these 11 counties, plus a state total.
1. Begin by creating a spreadsheet that contains this information. After one blank row at the bottom, enter a formula that totals up the county figures. Compare this total to the state total to make sure that your numbers have been entered correctly.
|
County |
total90 |
proj2000 |
proj2010 |
proj2020 |
|
Florida (state) |
8,484,607 |
10,019,500 |
11,434,400 |
12,724,400 |
|
Brevard |
398,978 |
502,300 |
596,600 |
683,400 |
|
Broward |
1,255,488 |
1,477,500 |
1,662,400 |
1,829,400 |
|
Dade |
1,937,094 |
2,149,800 |
2,365,100 |
2,558,900 |
|
Duval |
672,971 |
763,100 |
838,700 |
907,100 |
|
Hillsborough |
834,054 |
967,400 |
1,089,400 |
1,198,200 |
|
Lee |
335,113 |
435,800 |
531,500 |
620,300 |
|
Orange |
677,491 |
867,600 |
1,040,700 |
1,200,300 |
|
Palm Beach |
863,518 |
1,078,900 |
1,281,100 |
1,466,700 |
|
Pinellas |
851,659 |
929,900 |
1,005,100 |
1,073,000 |
|
Seminole |
287,529 |
387,400 |
479,700 |
565,700 |
|
Volusia |
370,712 |
459,800 |
544,100 |
621,400 |
2. Calculate the total number of people each county will add between the 1990 census and the year 2020. Sort the counties from largest to smallest increase. What is the top county? How does Broward County rank?
3. Calculate the percentage growth for each county over the 30 year period. Sort the counties by percentage growth. What's the top county? Where does Broward rank? Which value--population or percentage--is most meaningful for this story?
4. Now let's address the question of political clout. The simplest index is population share: the percentage of the state's population that lives in the county. To do this, calculate this proportion for the 1990 and 2020 data . What will happen to Broward's over time? How does that information relate to the county's clout in the state?
5. Another way to look at this information is to compare Broward's growth to that of the state's. You can do this by comparing the Broward growth figures to those of the state overall. How does Broward compare to the state overall? How does this affect the political clout of the county?