Urban Environment Report

[krazeeboi]

Earth Day Network

[mr. chips]

I don't understand that they have Columbia's population listed as 88,450 - I thought the city was above 100,000.

[GamecockEngineer]

Columbia's ranked #1 overall for Parks & Rec Opportunity!

[Spartan]

I'm not really sure what to make of the report to be honest. I take issue with studies that look at places based on municipal population. There's also no other cities in SC in this study. It seems to me that at least Charleston should have bene in it, since they have a relatively high municpal population. Its good that Columbia recieved a good ranking, but what does this mean for the city?

I don't understand that they have Columbia's population listed as 88,450 - I thought the city was above 100,000.

[krazeeboi]

I don't understand that they have Columbia's population listed as 88,450 - I thought the city was above 100,000.

[krazeeboi]

I'm not really sure what to make of the report to be honest. I take issue with studies that look at places based on municipal population. There's also no other cities in SC in this study. It seems to me that at least Charleston should have bene in it, since they have a relatively high municpal population. Its good that Columbia recieved a good ranking, but what does this mean for the city?

Cola has around 116,000 based on the 2000 Census (which this study claims to have used. Definitely NOT 88,000.

[Spartan]

"The 2005 American Community Survey universe is limited to the household population and excludes the population living in institutions, college dormitories, and other group quarters."

[krazeeboi]

^So I would say the ACS figure is probably the one that corresponds most to reality, while the Census figure is more inclusive and is more of a "bragging number."

[Spartan]

How? There are still 116,000 people in Columbia, regerdless of how many people live in one house.

[krazeeboi]

Right, but I really don't consider college students, inmates, etc. as permanent residents of the city. I think those are the biggies as far as group quarters are concerned; the others pale in comparison in terms of numbers.

[Spartan]

Those number are trivial though, compared to the total population in Columbia.

[krazeeboi]

I disagree. There are over 17,000 undergraduate students at USC alone. Granted, some of these students are residents of Columbia upon enrollment, but I don't know exactly how many. I'm also not sure of the prison population, but there are at least six correctional institutions in Columbia. These numbers do add up, and in a state that has small cities population-wise, I think the institutional numbers give the population a little boost.

[mr. chips]

According to ACS, these are the numbers for Charleston and Columbia:

Columbia:

2000: 116,278

2005: 88,450

Charleston:

2000: 96,650

2005: 109,151

So according to this, Charleston grew while Columbia decreased in population from 2000-2005. That can't be correct.

[waccamatt]

According to ACS, these are the numbers for Charleston and Columbia:

Columbia:

2000: 116,278

2005: 88,450

Charleston:

2000: 96,650

2005: 109,151

So according to this, Charleston grew while Columbia decreased in population from 2000-2005. That can't be correct.

[krazeeboi]

Again, you've got to look at how the ACS is determining those figures.

[Spartan]

There are only around 12,000 on campus students at USC, and maybe 1000 more at all of the other colleges around town combined. So how many people live on Ft Jackson itself? 14,000 or so? That sounds about right. There aren't many large prisons in the City limits to my knowledge.

All this means is that Columbia has a lot of institutional residents (college, miltary base, etc) and that Charleston does not. It doesn't mean the population isnt there. This actually makes perfect sense if you look at it. The actual population of people living in the City is more like 120,000 or whatever they say it is when you include all of these people.

[krazeeboi]

Getting back to the report itself, I think some of the individual categories in which Columbia didn't fare so well was more of a reflection of the state of South Carolina rather than Columbia itself. For instance, the quality of life category included indicators like median household and per capita incomes, and a city in our not-so-affluent state can only do so well. Also, state minimum wage laws and rates were taken into account within that category as well.

[Spartan]

Are they any different than national minimum wage laws? or is that the point?

[waccamatt]

Are they any different than national minimum wage laws? or is that the point?

[Infinite1]

There are only around 12,000 on campus students at USC, and maybe 1000 more at all of the other colleges around town combined. So how many people live on Ft Jackson itself? 14,000 or so? That sounds about right. There aren't many large prisons in the City limits to my knowledge.

All this means is that Columbia has a lot of institutional residents (college, miltary base, etc) and that Charleston does not. It doesn't mean the population isnt there. This actually makes perfect sense if you look at it. The actual population of people living in the City is more like 120,000 or whatever they say it is when you include all of these people.

[Spartan]

Right, thats what I'm saying. Since they didn't count the institutional population (which is apparantly around 28k) that would put the remaining population at around 88,000 in the city.