Chart assignment

Charts to read and discuss

Read each chart, then answer its questions. Every chart shows its source and date; open it for a table of the numbers and the data to download.

  1. How much do students from your college earn 10 years later?
  2. Are U.S. roads getting safer per mile driven?

Chart 1 of 2 · College

How much do students from your college earn 10 years later?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

Search 1,782 colleges that mainly award bachelor's degrees. Ten years after starting, former students of Ohio State earned a median of $67,080 a year, and those of California Institute of Technology, CA, the highest, $166,642. Earnings cover only students who received federal aid (grants or loans), whether or not they graduated, and who were working and not in school. They describe students who started about ten years before, with earnings in the two years through 2023, adjusted for inflation.

Questions to discuss

  1. In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
  2. Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
  3. Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?

Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2023

Open the chart and its numbers

Chart 2 of 2 · Road safety

Are U.S. roads getting safer per mile driven?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

In 2024 there were 1.19 deaths for every 100 million miles driven, down from 3.35 in 1980. The lowest rate was 1.08 in 2014; it jumped to 1.34 in 2020, when people drove less but deaths rose. Miles driven are the Federal Highway Administration's estimates.

How to read this chart

Each point is the number of people killed in traffic crashes for every 100 million miles Americans drove that year. Dividing by miles driven turns a count into a rate, so years when people drove more or less can be compared fairly.

Questions to discuss

  1. About what fraction of the 1980 rate is the rate in the latest year?
  2. In 2020 people drove less, but the rate went up. What could explain that?
  3. Why is deaths per mile a fairer way to compare years than the total number of deaths?

Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and FHWA Highway Statistics (table VM-2) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2024

Open the chart and its numbers

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