Ithaca's Index

  1. Annual return on $20 in a 30 month certificate of deposit: $ .75
  2. Money saved annually by using a water-conserving shower head: $20
  3. Percentage of 18 to 29 year olds who say they see homeless people so often they are no longer bothered by the sight: 55
  4. Percent of those over 64 who felt that way: 30
  5. Average number of American workers injured on the job each year: 9 million
  6. Chance that an American worker will die of an occupationally-related disease: 1 in 6
  7. Percentage decline in wages for blue collar males in the last four years: 5.9
  8. Percentage decline in wages for white collar males in the last four years: 2.4
  9. Percentage decline in wages of people under age 25 during the 1980s: 10
  10. Percentage of males 18-25 who still live at home: 75
  11. Number of individuals and businesses who don't file tax returns each year: 10 million
  12. Cost to government: $10 billion
  13. Percentage of stock shares owned by richest 1% of Americans: 50
  14. Percentage of investment real estate owned by richest 1% of Americans: 45
  15. Annual cost of welfare to government: $23 billion
  16. Cost to bail out presidents at failed savings and loans: $87 billion
  17. Percentage of 1992 voters who said poverty and homelessness were "very important issues": 76
  18. Percentage of Americans who believe government can have a positive impact on poverty: 24
  19. Percentage of Americans in 1960 who believed so: 74
  20. Percentage of new jobs in the year 2000 that will require at least a high school education: 60
  21. Percentage of people entering the labor force with less than a high school education: 70
  22. Average amount a Tompkins County consumer spends on food eaten at home in a year: $1186
  23. Average amount a Tompkins County consumer spends on alcoholic beverages in a year: $119
  24. Number of business establishments in Tompkins County: 2,067
  25. Number of employees at those establishments: 43,659
  26. Number of Tompkins County employees at service-oriented businesses: 20,229
  27. Average wage at a service business: $24,393
  28. Average wage at a retail business: $11,151
  29. Average personal income in the City of Ithaca, including students: $10,665
  30. Annual amount spent in Tompkins County on health insurance, medical services and prescription drugs: $55 million
  31. Annual amount spent in Tompkins County on clothing and apparel: $64 million
  32. Amount that "baby boomers" will inherit in the next 50 years: $10 trillion
  33. Average amount that will be inherited by each baby boomer: $90,000
  34. Percentage of college seniors who go on to graduate school: 19

Sources

1-2: Ithaca Journal, 7/19/93

3-6: Utne Reader, July/August, 1992

7-8: Ithaca Journal, 9/6/93

9-10: Time, July 16, 1990

11-12: Ithaca Journal, 10/27/93

13-14: USA Today, 8/23/93

15-19: Utne Reader, March/April 1994

20-21: Worth Magazine, September 1993

22-31: 1994 Tompkins County Preferred Business Directory

32-33: Cornell Press Release, 12/14/93

34: Ithacan, 9/23/93