I had a chance to participate on a panel about Visualizing Data at the American Association for Budget and Program Analysis 2012 Spring Symposium (lots of talks for budget geeks) along with Jonathan Schwabish from Congressional Budget Office and Ellie Fields from Tableau Software. We discuss the analysis, design, and editing process for creating data graphics.

If you made it to the session and would like to see my slides again or missed it but want to learn about the methods and resources I find most helpful take a look:

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Here is a sneak peek at my An Illustrated Guide to Income in the United States. These are a set of data graphics looking at the average income and change in number of jobs over the last ten years for 800+ occupation by industry and by education. Be sure to sign up to be notified when the Income Guide is done.

Data from EMSI

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Due to popular demand, I have updated my 2010 graph on top marginal tax rates. In addition, during this year’s tax season, I will be selling copies of my Top Marginal Tax Rates graph as a tabloid size 11″x17″ poster.  

FYI, your marginal tax rate is the rate you pay on the “last dollar” you earn; but when you view the taxes you paid as a percentage of your income, your effective tax rate is less than your marginal rate, especially after you take into account the deductions and exemptions, i.e. income that is not subject to any tax.

Tax Data: Married filing jointly, Capital Gains & Regular, Historical Corporate, Corporate Tax Schedule (page 16) pdf

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First published in Slate to accompany an article written by Tim Noah, I created these graphs about income inequality covering the changes in income inequality as well as looking at changes in race, gender, education, taxes and political party in the White House.

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I worked with Economic Modeling Specialists on a data graphic that looks to distinguish between growth from large national forces vs. local competitive advantages within a state.

Learn more about the data and analysis at the EMSI Blog.

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This one of the graphics that I presented recently at The Big Picture conference here in New York City. It is from a project I am currently working on called An Illustrated Guide to Income in the United States: a collection of infographics, maps and charts looking at the different incomes and occupations in the United States.

Recently the conversation in the news has been about the top 1%, however, in this graphic I show the breakdown of personal income by different percentiles, including the top 0.01% (i.e. income above $9 million). I have used 10,000 “people” to represent the tax returns filed in 2008, each “person” one equals 15,246 tax units. (A tax unit is single adult or married couple living together, including their dependents.)

So the top 1% are represented by the 100 “people” in the four (orange, yellow, magenta & red) rectangles the upper left corner.

Approximately $8.2 trillion in personal income (including capital gains) was reported to the IRS in 2008. Divide that by 152 million tax units you get an average income of $54,315. I have the size of the “people” represent the average income for each percentile group. For example the Average Income for the Top 0.01% = $27 million.

Data is from Saez and Piketty research which is now available at the The World Top Incomes Database 

Sign up to be notified when the Income Guide is done:

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A simple example showing what happens when you only pay the minimun monthly payment on your credit card debt. I submitted this to Longshot magazine’s issue on Debt but my graphic didn’t make it in but you can take a look at the other submissions on their site.

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I will be speaking at the The Big Picture Conference on October 11th. Early Registration ($395) has begun. You can sign up at Eventbrite

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While my blog has been pretty quiet over the summer as I work to finish my Income Guide I just wanted to pass on some good news. I recently applied for and received one of four $12,000 NMWE grants from the J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism at American University. This initiative is supported by the McCormick Foundation. J-Lab helps news organizations and citizens use new media technologies to create fresh ways for people to participate in public life. This grant lasts until the fall of 2012 and supplements $14,000 that I raised on Kickstarter. My plan over the next year is to build on the work I am doing this summer by redesigning my website while continuing to create infographic explainers using economic data that help journalists, teachers, students, financial bloggers and citizens understand economic numbers and policy.

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This is the second map that I created with my urban geographer brother Matthew Mulbrandon on the Housing Price Index (HPI). A description of these maps as well as the first set can be found on Design & Geography. This new set is inflation adjusted and covers the entire span of the Federal Housing data set 1991-2010.

Data source: Federal Housing Finance Agency

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