Women are the majority throughout most of the state (and the nation,
too). In some counties with large prisons or military establishments, the
balance shifts. One example is Wyoming County, home to the Attica Correctional
Facility, site of the tragic uprising of 1971.
An apartment building in the Bedford Stuyvesent section of Brooklyn.
Many people living here are below the poverty line only a few miles away
from the most expensive properties in the world in Manhattan.
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Population
Maps 3
GENDER
GAPS
Statewide, around 52% of New York is female,
close to the national average. On the map above, those areas in beige or
orange have a female majority, but those in green have more men. (In case
this isn't obvious, if the male population is 49%, then women compose 51%
of the population). Why are there counties that break the pattern? In many
northern counties there are military bases (like huge Fort Drum in Jefferson
County) and prisons. In the Finger Lakes Region, the male majority seems
to be due to farming, at least in part. And the mountainous parts of the
state seem to have higher concentrations of men as well. Do you have your
own theory?
POVERTY
Around one out of eight New Yorkers are living below the poverty line,
according to federal statistics. Some areas with large suburban populations
(such as Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley) have a lower rate, while
urban centers (especially Brooklyn and the Bronx) have been hit the hardest
by this nagging problem. Interestingly, Saratoga County just north of the
state capital at Albany has a very low poverty rate as well. Does any one
know why?
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