The Subway Above Ground
Jamaica - 179 St
The following piece simulates a full ride on the F line of the NYC subway, where the quantity and power of the instruments at any given moment in the song correspond to the median household income of the neighborhood that you are passing through.
Instructions: if you would like to experience this offline and on a subway ride, download the media file via the button below the video. Once you start to play the file, find your station (you can use the track listing on this page as a guide), and listen to the song in the background as you ride the subway. The result is a meditative piece in which the dramatic contrasts of a song echo the dramatic differences of income in the city.
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*Right click or long-press the button above and select "download link..." to save to your device
Track Listing
- Coney Island - Stillwell Av $46,157 approx. median household income
- W 8 St - NY Aquarium $41,485 approx. median household income
- Neptune Av $43,717 approx. median household income
- Avenue X $48,368 approx. median household income
- Avenue U $51,942 approx. median household income
- Kings Hwy $54,856 approx. median household income
- Avenue P $47,096 approx. median household income
- Avenue N $58,138 approx. median household income
- Bay Pkwy $47,737 approx. median household income
- Avenue I $54,126 approx. median household income
- 18 Av $28,880 approx. median household income
- Ditmas Av $44,728 approx. median household income
- Church Av $74,640 approx. median household income
- Fort Hamilton Pkwy $91,315 approx. median household income
- 15 St - Prospect Park $94,584 approx. median household income
- 7 Av $134,082 approx. median household income
- 4 Av $105,833 approx. median household income
- Smith - 9 Sts $127,236 approx. median household income
- Carroll St $146,891 approx. median household income
- Bergen St $130,125 approx. median household income
- Jay St - MetroTech $127,223 approx. median household income
- York St $167,362 approx. median household income
- East Broadway $36,517 approx. median household income
- Delancey St $49,818 approx. median household income
- 2 Av $70,471 approx. median household income
- Broadway-Lafayette St $95,427 approx. median household income
- W 4 St $121,201 approx. median household income
- 14 St $139,269 approx. median household income
- 23 St $158,478 approx. median household income
- 34 St - Herald Sq $112,466 approx. median household income
- 42 St - Bryant Pk $125,649 approx. median household income
- 47-50 Sts - Rockefeller Ctr $132,075 approx. median household income
- 57 St $139,910 approx. median household income
- Lexington Av/63 St $164,045 approx. median household income
- Roosevelt Island $87,846 approx. median household income
- 21 St - Queensbridge $30,848 approx. median household income
- Jackson Hts - Roosevelt Av $57,631 approx. median household income
- Forest Hills - 71 Av $79,987 approx. median household income
- 75 Av $82,124 approx. median household income
- Kew Gardens - Union Tpke $76,672 approx. median household income
- Briarwood - Van Wyck Blvd $68,507 approx. median household income
- Sutphin Blvd $49,853 approx. median household income
- Parsons Blvd $57,961 approx. median household income
- 169 St $39,090 approx. median household income
- Jamaica - 179 St $51,993 approx. median household income
Created by Brian Foo using Median household income by census tract, 2017 ACS 5-year estimates (B19013) and MTA subway station data. Code is open source. This piece is part of the 2021 Data Through Design: Ground Truth Exhibition. You can also visit this piece's sister project that turns this same data into a 3D interactive map.