topic What are the best classification methods for median income of census tracts? in ArcGIS Mapping and Charting Questions https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-mapping-and-charting-questions/what-are-the-best-classification-methods-for/m-p/693571#M2448 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>Would natural breaks (Jenks) be a good classification methods along with 3 classes for median income of census tracts? I'm still in the process of understanding which classification method is best for certain variables. Thanks!</P></BODY></HTML> Fri, 19 Jan 2018 17:28:51 GMT __17 2018-01-19T17:28:51Z What are the best classification methods for median income of census tracts? https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-mapping-and-charting-questions/what-are-the-best-classification-methods-for/m-p/693571#M2448 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>Would natural breaks (Jenks) be a good classification methods along with 3 classes for median income of census tracts? I'm still in the process of understanding which classification method is best for certain variables. Thanks!</P></BODY></HTML> Fri, 19 Jan 2018 17:28:51 GMT https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-mapping-and-charting-questions/what-are-the-best-classification-methods-for/m-p/693571#M2448 __17 2018-01-19T17:28:51Z Re: What are the best classification methods for median income of census tracts? https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-mapping-and-charting-questions/what-are-the-best-classification-methods-for/m-p/693572#M2449 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>a good understanding of an classification system depends upon a thorough knowledge of its distribution.</P><P>'Median' is just the middle in a sequence of numbers.&nbsp; It can be totally useless ( ie 1, 2, 3, 4, 10000) as can be the average.&nbsp; It would be best to produce a frequency histogram or better still a cumulative relative frequency CRF, distribution (ogive) to see the overall pattern.</P><P>Sometimes a 'trim mean' or 'trim median' is a better representation (ie cut of the upper and lower portion of a CRF, then calculate/determine the mean or median.</P><P>Once you have&nbsp; a sense of 'middle-ness' then you can focus on how to characterize spread.</P><P></P><P>Having said this, most people will just use what other people use <IMG src="https://community.esri.com/legacyfs/online/emoticons/wink.png" /> with whatever classes appear as default.</P></BODY></HTML> Fri, 19 Jan 2018 17:49:54 GMT https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-mapping-and-charting-questions/what-are-the-best-classification-methods-for/m-p/693572#M2449 DanPatterson_Retired 2018-01-19T17:49:54Z