Two measures of geographic location and their relation to income

Two different ways of categorizing people’s geographical location are compared as to their relation to earned incomes of family heads, after adjustment for education, age, sex and race. One, the traditional code, uses the size of the city in which the family lives. The other, originally suggested by Bernard Lazerwitz, focuses on the distance to, and the size of, the central city of the nearest standard metropolitan statistical area. Both appear useful, and their joint effects are examined.