Demographic Sources
There are two resources looked at in this report. The first is Clarita's You Are Where You Live.
""You Are Where You Live" is based on a "neighborhood lifestyle segmentation" system called PRIZM NE from Claritas Inc. a market research firm headquartered in San Diego, CA. PRIZM NE, which was originally created over 20 years ago, classifies neighborhoods into one of 66 categories based on census data, leading consumer surveys and media measurement data, and other public and private sources of demographic and consumer information."
Secondly the United States Census Bureau's American FactFinder. "The Census Bureau conducts many important censuses and surveys. The most well-known is the official population census of the United States, called the decennial census. It is conducted every ten years, most recently in April 2000. During each decennial census, the Census Bureau collects data from every household in the U.S. and its territories."
English: The southern United States, as defined by...
Percentage of Hispanic or Latino residents by coun...
English: Partial view of the headquarters building...Census information is obtained every four years; however the information is as accurate as can be obtained as long as the individuals providing the information are honest. The demographic area identified is Orcutt, California zip code 93455. Clarita's information has proven to be very generalized and groups like types of communities to similar wants and desires, because according to Claritas, the heart of the PRIZM system is the adage "birds of a feather, flock together."
Revealed Surprises
The census 2000 demographic profile highlights were not too surprising to me. Orcutt, California is mostly white in population. We are small community right next to Santa Maria, California, which has a very large Hispanic population. What did surprise me was that I thought Orcutt had more Hispanic population than it does. Another surprising factor was the housing characteristics showed the median house at $184,000. I understand this information is 5 years old,