MicroBuild On Location: Fast Growth Is On the Horizon

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MicroBuild On Location: Horizon, FL

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Horizon Rises Quickly

As Gadberry Group builds MicroBuild data each year, we continue to analyze communities across the U.S. down to microscopic geographic levels, and we are discovering fascinating areas of growth and change.

As with our other MicroBuild On Location stories our latest analysis reveals interesting pockets of quick change. Unique to this story is the inclusion of both MicroBuild Census and MicroBuild Postal (ZIP9) data for the analysis.

High change and growth areas are important to note and monitor for your research needs, whether you are using microscopic geographies for:

  • Marketing campaign planning
  • Physical expansion of stores and build-out plans
  • Capital investments in networks and asset build-outs
  • Analysis and decision making for growth and investment initiatives

Traditional data sources, typically updated annually but based on decennial census data, do not capture change that happens in-between update cycles. MicroBuild does.

Traditional, Census-based data sources will struggle to capture the rate of change that occurs across the U.S. in a timely fashion. 

The Florida Horizon

In our annual analysis of all Census Designated Places (CDP) across the U.S., we ranked the 100 fastest growing areas in terms of household growth.

18 of the 100 fastest growing CDPs in the U.S. are in Florida. Two in particular – Horizon West in Orange County (Orlando Metropolitan Area) and Nocatee in St. Johns County (St. Augustine area) - show household growth of over 50% since 2010:

MicroBuild Data

Household Growth Since 2010 Census

Household Growth Since Previous Year

Nocatee:

238%

14%

Horizon West:

192%

9%

Horizon West, FL

Horizon West is unique in that it is comprised of several neighborhoods, and each neighborhood has a demographic composition that is notably different from the other neighborhoods.  Let’s dive into Horizon West, specifically the Village of Bridgewater neighborhood, and investigate the change at a neighborhood level that MicroBuild sees faster than traditional data sources.

The Village of Bridgewater

MicroBuild data analysis across The Village of Bridgewater indicates precisely where household growth has been most pronounced and illustrates demographic changes worth noting

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FIGURE 1: This image outlines the Census Designated Place (CPD) boundary of Horizon West in Black. This CPD contains four distinct Macro Neighborhoods that are not described by traditional Census boundaries. The Village of Bridgewater is Highlighted in Yellow.

See where the new addresses in Village of Bridgewater are being added

First, overall housing growth can be seen in this comparison of MicroBuild ZIP9 placements across the village.

“ZIP9” refers to a five-digit postal ZIP Code with an additional four digits making the total designator a nine-digit code. ZIP9’s are not a Census geographic boundary.

ZIP9’s are typically comprised of 6-10 houses so they are far more granular than even the smallest Census geography available. A ZIP9 postal analysis can provide insights that a Census geography analysis cannot.

The maps above indicates where houses are being built as the area continues to grow. Companies marketing “in home” services such as broadband access, home protection, insurance, and financial services, landscape and lawn maintenance, etc. should understand exactly where growth is occurring and tailor their marketing accordingly.

But there’s more than just housing growth occurring in the Village of Bridgewater.

The area’s average age is also changing:

FIGURE 2: This image depicts the change in Average Age from 2015 to 2020 for select residential neighborhoods with the Village of Bridgewater. A residential neighborhood is considered a micro geographic area of study that does not conform to standard Census-based geographic distributions.

The darker shades are where average age has changed the most from 2015 to 2020. 

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And, perhaps most importantly for marketers, there is significant change in Average Net Worth across the area: 

It is important to note that areas like Independence and Lake Cawood Estates see remarkably less Net Worth gain (on average) than do areas like Overlook and Hamlin on the far western side of the Village of Broadwater.

There are marketing and planning implications for these differences, and MicroBuild data can empower your applications to act on these differences

Note: The deeper green areas are those where Average Net Worth has seen the highest gains. 

How "Change-Aware" Data Helps

Gadberry’s MicroBuild data is “Change Aware” – it is able to perceive rapid changes in household data because it is built from the ground up in each update cycle. As residential areas are planned and developed, as houses are built and occupied, MicroBuild can detect and depict these changes.

So instead of basing your planning efforts on U.S. Census data, which ages rapidly and attains increasingly lower coverage rates with each update, consider using MicroBuild.

Effectively Using MicroBuild Data in Your Research and Analysis

This study of Horizon West demonstrates that, any large, high-growth development is challenging to analyze accurately for planning initiatives without starting at a microscopic geographic level.

This is where MicroBuild excels.

By starting at a micro level such as ZIP9, MicroBuild enables analysts to drill up and down for information. Analysts can dive down to lower levels of geography and aggregate data up to any custom geography level needed – including neighborhoods. This ability great enhances the analysts’ ability to reveal and use demographic profiles and trends. They can uncover important details even as the data changes.

MicroBuild Postal is updated quarterly, giving you more change-aware and robust data to inform your decisions.

What It All Means for You

Seeing change as it happens frees you from the constraints of flawed and increasingly inaccurate census-based datasets.

Better data means better decisions:

For Home Services companies, MicroBuild can help you know WHERE new residences are being built so you can plan marketing and expansion efforts based on more accurate data.

For Telecommunications companies, MicroBuild helps you know where to deploy assets, where your “uptake” rates are likely to be highest for new services, and how best to successfully grow your overall product portfolio across your target market.

And we do it at scale.

Horizon West is one area among thousands across the U.S. for which we see and analyze change during every MicroBuild release cycle. We capture all of it and make it available to you so that you can make more informed decisions.

Knowing where addresses are increasing and what types of addresses are being created – at scale – has tremendous marketing and planning impacts for businesses in many industries including:

  • Real Estate
  • Telecommunications
  • Retail
  • Insurance
  • Home Services
  • Financial Services

Using MicroBuild gives you:

  • More frequent updates
  • More accurate data through frequent releases
  • Precision of location and confidence levels beyond standard geocoding services
  • “Signal data” regarding the types of houses and related structures which are populating an area – and the demographics and consumer behavior associated with them

Let's Talk About Your Location Intelligence Data Needs

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Resources and further reading: 

The following sources and links provide great amount of context and understanding for the data changes MicroBuild helps bring to light.

Each of these was used in developing the above content.