Track Metra Stations of the Rich & Powerful, Poor & Destitute

Here now, another gut check on regional income inequality brought to you by Crain's! The data is derived from the 2011 U.S. Census Community Survey and instead of fumbling with municipalities or that most nebulous of statistical units, the zip code, Crain's organizes Chicagoland's average incomes by Metra stops. Visit the interactive version of the map on the Crain's page and you'll see exact household income averages for each station corresponding to zip code. The color coding gives another layer of information — where your station, and thus community, ranks among the entire system. 60% of stations in the lowest income group (bottom 10 percentile) are strung along the Metra Electric line; 36.7% of stations in the highest income group (top 10%) belong to the Union Pacific North line. In the 11-line, 241-station Metra system, only a few specks of yellow and red (bottom groups) are found outside the South and West sides of Chicago. Revelatory? No. Problematic? Yes.
·Money Train: Metra stops and income levels [Crain's]