The Silicon Valley breeds a dominant sub-culture that has left an exceedingly influential footprint on generations of people regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender, or religion. The epitome of technological advancement and innovation, people of the Bay Area are inadvertently subjected to an array of rigid stereotypes, formidable expectations, and grueling feats of accomplishment. Whether it is the overwhelming price-tag that accompanies the quintessential “middle-class lifestyle” or the stigma attached to a woman’s pursuit of a STEM field, Silicon Valley has impacted every individual in some way or another. A follow up to The December Issue of the Oracle’s focus theme: The Silicon Valley Bubble; this article highlights statistics, facts, and figures, revealing common misconceptions about the Silicon Valley and presenting important data.
Jobs: 1,423,491
The Silicon Valley Average Annual Earnings (2013): $107,395
National Average Annual Earnings (2013): $44,888.16
The wealth disparity in the Silicon Valley region has increased. The share of households in the Silicon Valley earning more than $100,000 increased from 43% to 45% in 2012.
The region’s population growth has accelerated over the last year due to a 52% increase in foreign immigration in 2013.
Gathered Q’s/Data:
Source: http://www.siliconvalleycf.org/sites/default/files/publications/2014-silicon-valley-index.pdf
Area:1,854 SQUARE MILES
Population:2.92 MILLION
Jobs: 1,423,491
Average Annual Earnings: $107,395
-The Silicon Valley area added 46,665 new jobs in 2013; an increase of 3.4% since the prior year.
-The region’s population growth has accelerated over the last year due to a 52% increase in foreign immigration in 2013.
-The Silicon Valley’s total population grew 1.31% last year, whereas statewide population growth increased to 0.88%. Silicon Valley’s net migration has been its highest since 1997.
-The wealth disparity in the Silicon Valley region has increased. The share of households in the Silicon Valley earning more than $100,000 increased from 43% to 45% in 2012.
-The share of households earning $35,000 to $99,000 decreased from 33% to 35%.
-In the 2011-12 school year, only half of Silicon Valley public school students graduated having completed the necessary courses to attend a four-year college
-Palo Alto and Cupertino both rank among the Nations Top 11 Wealthiest Cities. Cupertino is ranked as #11 and Palo Alto as #6.
-The lowest-earning ethnic group earns 70% less than the highest group
-Men with a Bachelor’s degree or higher make 40-73% more than women with the same level of educational attainment
-Silicon Valley’s percentage of foreign-born residents is significantly higher than California or the United States: 36.4% (Silicon Valley) vs 27.1% (California), and 13.0% (United States).
-More than half of Silicon Valley’s population speaks a language other than English at home
-46% of adults in the Silicon Valley area have a Graduate, Professional, or Bachelors Degree
QUOTE: Case Amsden
“Silicon Valley causes a lot of STEM focus, so anyone who wants to go into a field outside of STEM feels kind of looked-down upon… almost any liberal arts majors.”
QUOTE: Anna Moceyunas
“ Most people assume we have big houses, fast cars, parents working at Google or Apple, genius kids, and hundreds of technological devices in every home… (but) maybe this statement applies to some and not others.”
QUOTE: Mira Cohen
“The majority of the people (here) are privileged; so therefore ignorant toward economic realities because they live in a place with so many opportunities… people are used to their commercial goods, cars in High School, and traveling at least once a year…which is more than many places in the US.
Dr Anon • Jan 15, 2015 at 6:53 pm
Is this not like copy and pasting stats from other sources and interviewing a few kids…? journalism these days.
Anonymous • Jan 15, 2015 at 9:35 pm
Truth.
Anonymous • Jan 15, 2015 at 9:48 pm
Hello! To clear up any misconceptions, this article was originally a collection of facts and statistics presented in diagram-form on the Focus Page of the print issue of the Oracle. Because the formatting of the Original article did not work out in the Print issue, I published the facts here. The facts and statistics do not constitute and”article”, but rather information that was originally supposed to be spread out and arranged in a brain-map type of way on the focus page.