Mapping Geographic Inequality in Raleigh

Following up on my previous post of geographic inequality of my native Seattle, a similar phenomenon is present in my current home of Raleigh. This is, of course, a prevailing pattern within many cities, but can become more distinct at different scales.

A series of maps by Lift Aerial using property value data (normalized by acre) from open-source Wake County GIS reveals a striking, but perhaps unsurprising, division between the affluent core neighborhoods north/northwest of Downtown, and those to the east/southeast. Neighborhoods such as the East Raleigh-South Park Historic District, are equally-relevant to Raleigh's culture, history, and economic viability as communities like Oakwood, but often times the real and percieved value of these communities can be overlooked or marginalized. Aggregate data indicates neighborhood-level land values can increase nearly ten-fold in less than one linear mile. As in the previous post, property values are not the only metric of economic and geographic inequality (income distribution is arguably a more accurate measurement but not available at the parcel-level), and parcels zoned for commercial or industrial use will often carry a premium over residential parcels. There are a host of social, economic, and environmental forces driving geographic inequality, but this measure begins to expose specific patterns of disparity within our urban fabric.

A city-scale context (below) shows that this phenomenon continues outside of Raleigh's historic core.