The Hamilton Project released another engaging interactive, Where Work Pays [Hat tip to Brian Page for pointing this out].

Here's how it works....

a) Students select an occupation

b) Input an age group

c) Adjust for Cost of living and/or Income Taxes (optional) 

d) Toggle between Local or States which will affect the map view. 

 So, why do I love this interactive. It brings together so many concepts in one activity, including

• Career choice (what do you think you want to be?),
• Geographical choices (where do you think you want to live?)
• Cost of living concept (how does the area you live in/want to live in affect your cost to live?)
• Taxes (how do taxes affect earnings; why are taxes different in given states?)
• What is the situation in my community for a specific job or for wages for all jobs? 

We will ultimately create an activity around this interactive, in the meantime, here are a few scenarios to get your students started (or you can show on projector):

Scenario 1: Select..

• Start by choosing an occupation: All Occupations
• Select an Age Group: All Ages
• Adjust for: Do Not Select 
• Choose A Geography: Click on States

Here's the map showing median earnings by state (note that the map on the website is interactive so you can mouse over to get the state amount):

Questions for students:

• What are the median earnings for your state? Is it higher or lower than you expected? How does it compare to your neighbors? 
• What are the regional trends that you see? Where regions tend to have highest median earnings? Lowest median earnings?
• What do you think are the factors that determine why states (or cities) have higher earnings than other states (cities)? 

Next click on the checkbox next to Cost of Living. Here's the result:

• What is meant by cost of living? How does it impact how far your earnings will go in a specific state? 
• Review the changes between the two maps. Based on the difference between the two maps, what states saw a drop in median earnings (a lighter blue) compared to an increase in median earnings (became more purple).
• What do you think are the costs that determine whether or not a state has a high cost of living? 

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Looking for more engaging interactives? Our Interactive Library has 40+ and activity worksheets too!

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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