Population Change and Its Driving Factors in Rural, Suburban, and Urban Areas of Wisconsin, USA, 1970–2000

Table 1

Principal factor analysis by varimax rotation with Kaiser criterion.

(a)

Demographic variables	1970 factor loadings		1980 Factor loadings		1990 factor loadings
	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor 1	Factor 2
Variance explained	26.73%	23.91%	35.00%	27.82%	31.43%	28.72%
Population density	−0.162	0.445	0.251	0.408	−0.264	0.437
Percent of young population (ages 12–18)	0.635	0.033	−0.799	−0.093	0.784	−0.008
Percent of old population (ages ≥ 65)	−0.447	0.020	0.760	−0.036	−0.559	−0.013
Percent of blacks	0.137	0.483	−0.026	0.578	0.084	0.592
Percent of Hispanics	0.031	0.030	−0.024	0.462	0.031	0.470

(b)

Livability variables	1970 factor loadings			1980 factor loadings			1990 factor loadings
	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor3	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor3	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor3
Variance explained	33.43%	14.95%	10.33%	32.84%	19.23%	12.67%	32.84%	18.71%	12.82%
Unemployment rate	−0.141	0.059	−0.394	−0.329	0.081	0.478	−0.379	0.094	0.412
Median household income	0.712	−0.083	0.198	0.812	−0.095	−0.261	0.873	−0.139	−0.243
Percent of population with high school degree	0.659	0.196	0.126	0.749	0.122	−0.078	0.730	0.074	−0.121
Percent of population with bachelor’s degree	0.803	0.210	0.086	0.734	0.270	−0.035	0.771	0.241	0.000
Percent of college population	0.283	0.131	0.109	0.354	0.227	−0.122	0.351	0.233	−0.127
Percent of housing units using public water	0.210	0.749	0.259	−0.003	0.817	−0.314	−0.026	0.786	−0.299
Percent of seasonal housing units	−0.135	−0.107	−0.460	−0.097	−0.103	0.706	−0.138	−0.099	0.868
Median house value	0.842	0.265	0.175	0.918	−0.027	−0.031	0.895	−0.001	0.030
County seat status	0.047	0.334	0.110	−0.019	0.349	−0.103	−0.033	0.352	−0.084
Percent of workers in retail industry	0.062	0.510	−0.101	0.173	0.602	0.242	0.092	0.504	0.231
Percent of workers in agricultural industry	−0.358	−0.754	0.330	−0.246	−0.765	−0.299	−0.257	−0.736	−0.237

(c)

Accessibility variables	1970 factor loadings		1980 factor loadings		1990 factor loadings
	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor 1	Factor 2
Variance explained	32.18%	20.06%	33.68%	20.00%	33.60%	20.04%
Proximity to central cities	0.550	–0.073	0.556	0.034	0.561	0.014
Proximity to airports	0.394	0.004	0.376	0.123	0.382	0.072
Proximity to major highways	–0.009	0.029	–0.004	–0.021	–0.001	–0.030
Highway density	0.687	0.121	0.649	0.247	0.650	0.325
Percent of workers using public transportation to work	0.140	0.259	0.412	0.341	0.172	0.416

(d)

Desirability variables	Factor loadings
	Factor 1	Factor 2	Factor 3
Variance explained	27.07%	20.46%	15.26%
Percent of forest area	0.732	0.073	0.079
Percent of water area	0.062	–0.123	0.019
Percent of wetland area	0.489	–0.420	0.157
Percent of public land area	0.468	–0.091	0.053
Length of riverbank/lakeshore/coastline	0.369	0.257	0.646
Golf courses	–0.007	–0.092	0.387
Viewsheds (12.5%–20% slope)	0.161	0.928	0.080