Oconto And Las Vegas example essay topic

Oconto, WI vs. Las Vegas, NV I currently live in Oconto, WI, but would love to go to Las Vegas, NV. Therefore, I am going to compare these two very different cities in terms of economics. There is great variation in the comparison between Oconto, WI and Las Vegas, NV. Oconto is located in Oconto County and Las Vegas is located in Clark County.

Las Vegas has an elevation of 2000 feet, while Oconto is only 591 feet. Oconto has a land area of 6.9 square miles, compared to Las Vegas with 113.3 square miles. Also Oconto has only one zip code, but Las Vegas has 36. The population of Oconto, Wisconsin was estimated at 4,751 in July of 2002.

Compare this to the estimated population in July 2002 for Las Vegas at 508,604 people. Males made up 48.0% of Oconto's population at 2,259 and females made up the other 52.0% at 2,449. However, males made up 50.8% of the population in Las Vegas at 243,077 and females made up the remaining 49.2% at 235,357 people. The median resident age for Oconto is 36.9 years. This is fairly close to that of Las Vegas at 34.5 years.

Oconto had a median household income of $34,589 in 2000. Again Las Vegas had a fairly close number of $44,069 which was also in 2000. A big difference comes in the median house value between the two cities. Oconto has a value of $69,800 which was in 2000. However, Las Vegas had a value of $137,300 in 2000. The race breakdown between the two cities is also very different.

The majority of Oconto is made up of the White Non-Hispanic race at 97.3% of the population. Following are the minorities in Oconto of American Indian at 1.2%, two or more races at 0.9% and Hispanic at 0.8%. By looking at this data it is easy to see that Oconto is not a very culturally diverse town. The majority of Las Vegas is also made up of White Non-Hispanic people at 58.0%. This is considerably lower than Oconto and Las Vegas is made up of many more races than Oconto. Following are the minorities in Las Vegas of Hispanic at 23.6%, Black at 10.4%, other races at 9.7%, two or more races at 4.1%, Filipino at 2.3%, American Indian at 1.5%, Chinese at 0.6%, Other Asian at 0.6%, and Japanese at 0.5%.

The reason the total is greater than 100% is because Hispanics could be counted in other races. The ancestries of the two cities are also different. Oconto is made up of German at 39.3%, French at 16.8%, Polish at 8.0%, French Canadian at 6.3%, Irish at 6.2%, and United States at 5.2%. In comparison to the ancestry of Las Vegas which is made up of German at 12.2%, Irish at 9.8%, English at 8.4%, Italian at 6.7%, United States at 4.5%, and French at 2.8%.

In Oconto, 0.4% of the population is Foreign born compared to Las Vegas where 18.9% were Foreign born. From Oconto, the nearest city with a population of 50,000+ is Green Bay, which is 27.7 miles away, a population of 200,000+ is Milwaukee, which is 127.1 miles away, and the nearest city with a population of 1,000,000+ is Chicago, IL which is located 211.1 miles away from Oconto. And the nearest city with a population of 1,000,000+ to Las Vegas is Los Angeles, CA located 261.2 miles away. In Oconto, the single-family new house construction building permits for 2003 were 9 buildings at an average cost of $125,000.

There is a huge difference when compared to Las Vegas which had 6861 buildings at an average cost of $134,100. However, surprisingly the average cost is not too far off of each other. The main industries in Oconto providing employment are manufacturing at 35.9% and educational, health, and social services at 18.0%. It is no surprise that the leading industry providing employment in Las Vegas is arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation, and food services at 28.0%. That is followed by educational, health, and social services at 12.5%, retail trade at 11.3%, and construction at 10.1%. The average weather is higher in Las Vegas than Oconto.

The following is a comparison between the city and the state average for each city. Oconto compared to the Wisconsin state average is below the median house value, significantly below the black race population percentage, significantly below the Hispanic race population percentage, significantly below the foreign-born population percentage, above the house age, below the number of college students, significantly below the percentage of population with a bachelor's degree or higher, and below in population density. Now Las Vegas compared to the Nevada state average is above the Hispanic race population percentage, significantly below the length of stay since moving in, significantly below the house age, below the percentage of population with a bachelor's degree or higher, and below in population density. Over all, compared to the state averages, Nevada is doing better. However, Oconto is well above Las Vegas in terms of house age.