EASI Life Stage Clusters
A New Neighborhood Social Stratification System
Life Stage Summary
Easy Analytic Software has developed a simplified clustering system. A primary goal of the EASI development effort has been the creation of a cluster system based on a Life Stage model. Life Stage Clusters are a neighborhood classification system based on the crucial factors that determine life's key decisions. It is a community-oriented scheme that identifies and quantifies the factors that are involved in moving to a specific location. To accomplish this goal EASI's statisticians have spent hundreds of hours analyzing the vast EASI demographic database, and organizing the results into a simplified system designed for non-statisticians.
The EASI Master Database, used as the basis for developing the EASI Life Stage Clusters, has over 1,900 variables including demographic data and forecasts for 4/1/2000; a current year update; and a five-year forecast. The standard version of this Master Database is available for Block Groups, Census Tracts, ZIP Codes, CBSAs, Cities, Counties, States, and the US . The EASI Life Stages Model is based upon the Block Group database.
Clustering based on Life Stages
EASI's clusters are developed based upon a Life Stage model. Life Stages are based on the concept that your age, your income, and your family status are key determinates in the type of neighborhood you live in.
Think of it this way,
“Life is just a stage I’m going through.”
As we all know, nothing lasts forever. That is the assumption in the creation of Life Stages. They represent a phase in a person’s life based upon a set of circumstances, a phase that will eventually change. Things change; a person will get a job, get married, have kids, change jobs, kids leave, retire, and changes continue. Each stage is transitory, it does not last forever. Life Stages evolve throughout a person’s lifetime.
Benefits
EASI Life stages are ideal for analyzing direct mail results, sales analysis, marketing analysis, political analysis, and much more.
How are stages determined?
How old is your household? Your household head may be; 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, or 80+ years of age.
What is your marital status? You may be; married with children, or a single parent, or married with no children (under 18 living at home), or non-family.
What is your household income? It may be lower than average, moderate, or higher than average.
These factors all make a difference in how you spend your life and of course where you live. They directly relate to your choice of neighborhood selection.
The Basics in EASI’s Life Stages … Each of the EASI Life Stage Clusters will be identified by its unique combinations of significantly related demographic and consumer expenditures (CEX) variables.
Some of these clusters are small in number, (maybe only a few neighborhoods or a very small percent of US households) but they still form a consistent group that is statistically different from all the others.
The EASI Cluster Analysis Summaries
EASI has produced a Cluster Analysis Summary for each of the 84 Life Stage Clusters. This summary consists of the following elements:
Icon Presentation:
To help you understand Life Stages, each cluster will be represented by a group of icons that illustrate the basis of the cluster.
Cluster Impact Summary:
This section will identify both the economic power of the cluster and the size of the cluster. Each of those characteristics will be ranked from 1 to 84 (the cluster with Economic Power Rank of 1 will be the strongest and the cluster with Rank 84 will be the weakest).
Demographic Summary:
The Demographics Summary lists the 10 demographic traits most distinctive to the combination of all of the neighborhoods contained within a given cluster.
Expenditure Summary:
The Expenditure Summary lists the consumer expenditures most distinctive to the combination of all neighborhoods contained within a given cluster.
Cluster 43 Late Middle Age (45-54) Families No Children with Moderate Income
Economic Power (Median Income) = $51,933 Rank = 36
(How does this group compare economically to all the other clusters? It is the 35th richest, with a median income of $51,933.)
Total Households (13.221 % US ) = 16,892,457 Rank = 1
(Of the nation’s total households 16,892,457 are represented in the sum of all the neighborhoods in this cluster group. It is the largest with a rank of 1.)
The list below shows the top autonomous variables including both, demographics and consumer expenditures, that were most associated with this Life Stage cluster.
Demographically Associated Variables (with the sum of this cluster):
Households, Median Vehicles (i.e. lots of cars)
Population, Males Married (Pop 15+) (i.e. mostly married men)
Population, Females Married (Pop 15+)
(i.e. mostly married women)
Households with 3 Vehicles (i.e. mostly married)
Housing, Owner Occupied
Common Consumer Expenditures (with the sum of this cluster):
Market Value of US savings bonds ($000)
Highlight
EASI has identified, through multivariate statistical analysis, key groups of variables and developed a Life Stage clustering system based upon those results.
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