What US Cities have similar demograpics and population densities as
New Brunswick New Jersey? We do well with financial seminars in that
area and would like to determine which other cities might prove
promising for us to try.

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Request for Question Clarification by websearcher-ga on 06 Jun 2005 15:16 PDT

Hi rakjak:

Thanks for the interesting question. 

Trying to compare cities based on the loose terms "demographics" and
"population densities" is a gargantuan task. Perhpas together we can
narrow down the parameters a little bit.

Have a look at the 2000 census/demographic data for New Brunswick, New Jersey at:

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/34/3451210.html

Take a look at all the different measures there. Which ones would you
like to try to find matches for?

I would suggest that if selling financial seminars was successful in
New Brunswick that you should choose from among:

* Population
* Race Stats (i.e., White, Black, Native, Asian, etc.)
* Education Level (i.e., High School, Undergrad)
* Homeownership rate
* Median household income

These are the parameters *I* think would be important for financial
seminars. What do you think? Are there others that would fit better,
given the nature of your seminars? (For example, seniors....?)

Let me know what you think. 

websearcher

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Request for Question Clarification by websearcher-ga on 06 Jun 2005 16:25 PDT

As well, if you could tell me which parameters you choose are the
most/least important in your eyes, that would help make the search
much more doable.

websearcher

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Clarification of Question by rakjak-ga on 07 Jun 2005 10:49 PDT

Hi,

I'm not sure what criteria are important to our success in that area.
Our attendee's are mostly male and in their 30's - 50's. Areas that
are very affluent, like Southern CT, don't do as well for us. I think
density is important as you need a large population within driving
distance to pull from.

Let me know what else I can provide.

Thanks,

Doug

Hi rakjak:

Thanks for the clarification. 

Given that you have the proven capacity to provide your service in NJ,
I am going to search that state first.

Having given you question some more thought, I have decided to search
on the following population/demographic criteria, in the following
order of importance:

* Persons per sq. mile - greater than 7,500
* Median household income - $30,000..$40,000  (less than the $55,000 state value)
* Bachelor's degree or higher - 10%..20%
* Population - 30,000..150,000
* White persons - 40%..60%
* Black persons - 15%..30%
* Persons over 65 years old - less than 12%

The cities in New Jersey that best fit that criteria are:

Elizabeth 
URL: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/34/3421000.html
* Persons per sq. mile - 9,865.5
* Median household income - $35,175
* Bachelor's degree or higher - 12.1%
* Population - 120,568
* White persons - 55.8%
* Black persons - 20.0%
* Persons over 65 years old - 10.0%

Passaic 
URL: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/34/3456550.html
* Persons per sq. mile - 21,804.7
* Median household income - $33,594
* Bachelor's degree or higher - 13.7%
* Population - 67,861
* White persons - 35.4%
* Black persons - 13.8%
* Persons over 65 years old - 8.1%

Assuming that you would prefer to stay closer to NJ rather than travel
a great distance, I looked next in Pennsylvania. Given that this state
has different average values, I changed the criteria slightly:

* Persons per sq. mile - greater than 5,000
* Median household income - $25,000..$35,000  (less than the $40,000 state value)
* Bachelor's degree or higher - 10%..20%
* Population - 30,000..150,000
* White persons - 50%..75%
* Black persons - 5%..20%
* Persons over 65 years old - less than 15%

The cities that match those criteria are:

Allentown
URL: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/42/4202000.html
* Persons per sq. mile - 6,011.5
* Median household income - $32,016
* Bachelor's degree or higher - 15.4%
* Population - 106,632
* White persons - 72.5%
* Black persons - 7.8%
* Persons over 65 years old - 15.1%

Lancaster 
URL: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/42/4241216.html
* Persons per sq. mile - 7,616.5
* Median household income - $29,770
* Bachelor's degree or higher - 14.0%
* Population - 56,348
* White persons - 61.6%
* Black persons - 14.1%
* Persons over 65 years old - 10.5%

Reading 
URL: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/42/4263624.html
* Persons per sq. mile - 8,270.2
* Median household income - $26,698
* Bachelor's degree or higher - 8.6%
* Population - 81,207
* White persons - 59.2%
* Black persons - 12.2%
* Persons over 65 years old - 12.4%

York
URL: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/42/4287048.html
* Persons per sq. mile - 7,852.2
* Median household income - $26,475
* Bachelor's degree or higher - 10.6%
* Population - 40,862
* White persons - 59.8%
* Black persons - 25.1%
* Persons over 65 years old - 10.9%

Please let me know if this type of data fits your needs. If so, which
other states would you like me to focus on next? If not, what can I do
to alter these results to better fit your needs.

Thanks.

websearcher

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Request for Answer Clarification by rakjak-ga on 08 Jun 2005 10:09 PDT

Hi,

Thanks for moving forward. Here's some additinal data.

I'm interested in cities throughout the US. The top 25 cities that
closely fit the demographics of New Brunswick would be ideal. They
don't have to be near New Brunswick.

This is a good question for us to ask.
* Bachelor's degree or higher - 10%..20%

The large majority of our buyers are white males.
* White persons - 40%..60%
* Black persons - 15%..30%

I think you're on the right track. How much will it cost to get some
more extensive research?

Thanks,

Doug

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Clarification of Answer by websearcher-ga on 08 Jun 2005 11:46 PDT

Hi rakjak:

Thank you for the further clarifications.

First of all, let's deal with the evolving demographic criteria on
which the search will be conducted. If the majority of your clients
are white males aged 30 - 50, then I'd suggest our new criteria to be
(in order of importance):

* Persons per sq. mile - greater than 5,000
* White persons - 60%+ (the higher, the better)
* Median household income - 10%+ less than the appropriate state average
* Bachelor's degree or higher - 10%..20%
* Population - 30,000..150,000
* Persons over 65 years old - less than 12%

Now, New Brunswick doesn't completely fit this profile any more, as
they only have a 48.8% white population, far lower than the 72.6%
average for all of New Jersey even. However, I think that aiming for
the higher percentage is a good idea and will produce even better
prospects.

Does this sound good to you?

As for your question about what would "more extensive" research cost -
I appreciate the fact that you recognize that a lot of work has
already gone into this question and that $100 isn't a fair price for
this work plus the amount of work that would need to follow. Part of
the challenge with this research is that it is really hard to say how
much more time/effort will be required overall.

Given all that, I can see the following options for continuing this research:

* You can continue using Google Answers to do this further research OR
you can choose - now that you have your criteria more accurately
worked out - to hire a demographics specialist/firm to complete the
research.

* If you choose to use another service for the rest of your research,
you could pose a question on Google Answers for help locating such a
specialist/firm.

* If you choose to use Google Answers to complete this research, you could:

  * Create additional questions one after another - perhaps each at $100 - 
    until the research is completed, OR

  * Split the research into 4 - 5 areas of the U.S. (e.g., east, west, 
    south, midwest) and create a separate say $100 question for each of 
    these areas.

* In addition, if you choose to use Google Answers to
continue/complete this research, you could choose to open the
subsequent questions to other Google Answers Researchers OR - if you
prefer to continue working with me - you could specify in the subject
and body of each question that the question is for websearcher-ga.

I would be more than happy to continue helping you in any way I can.
If you feel the demographics criteria we've been working on still need
further optimization, then we can continue to do that in the context
of this question.

One other thing crossed my mind that you may wish to consider - it
might be worth considering approaching this research on more of a
"scientific" basis. By that I mean finding maybe 2 - 5 additional
candidate cities based on the demographics we choose, then trying the
seminars there and seeing whether they work out for you as well. The
results from that data set would then be used to refine the
demographics criteria for the next stage of research/seminars. This
would certainly prolong the research experience, but might prove more
profitable to your bottom line. I just have this niggling feeling that
our current success data set (i.e., ONE city, New Brunswick, NJ) is an
awfully small data set to be planning TOO far in advance on.

Please let me know what you think and how you'd like to proceed. 

Thanks. 

websearcher

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Request for Answer Clarification by rakjak-ga on 09 Jun 2005 10:34 PDT

I'd like to continue working with you. 

1 - How do I close this question so you get paid?

2 - How much would it cost to have you find 5 - 10 cities that you
think would work well for our workshops?

Thanks,

Doug

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Clarification of Answer by websearcher-ga on 09 Jun 2005 12:19 PDT

Hi Doug:

Thank you for wanting to continue working with me. I'm looking forward
to continuing this research.

1 - How do I close this question so you get paid?

You don't need to do anything more. The fact that you rated this
answer certainly closes it completely. :-)

2 - How much would it cost to have you find 5 - 10 cities that you
think would work well for our workshops?

I think another $100 question would be enough to find at least 5 - and
maybe as many as 10 - more candidate cities, now that we've narrowed
down our demographic criteria.

If you make a new question titled "Demographic Research for
websearcher-ga" and price it at $100, I would be happy to find as many
cities as possible within a reasonable time period for the fee paid.
In the body of the question just state that you want me to continue
the previous demographic research - you don't need more detail than
that.

If I can come up with 10 in less time than should be paid for $100
then I'll let you know and you can lower the question price
accordingly before we close the new question off.

I know you said earlier that you didn't need the candidate cities to
be close to NJ, but IF you want me to focus in a certain area of the
US or to try to intentionally spread the cities out geographically,
please let me know in the body of the new question.

Thanks again. 

websearcher

Researcher is very knowledgable.