The Subway Above Ground
Forest Hills - 71 Av
The following piece simulates a full ride on the R 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.
Download this video*
*Right click or long-press the button above and select "download link..." to save to your device
Track Listing
- Bay Ridge - 95 St $57,479 approx. median household income
- 86 St $73,150 approx. median household income
- 77 St $65,594 approx. median household income
- Bay Ridge Av $53,206 approx. median household income
- 59 St $34,986 approx. median household income
- 53 St $40,263 approx. median household income
- 45 St $59,169 approx. median household income
- 36 St $51,217 approx. median household income
- 25 St $68,253 approx. median household income
- Prospect Av $99,956 approx. median household income
- 9 St $105,189 approx. median household income
- Union St $145,516 approx. median household income
- Atlantic Av - Barclays Ctr $105,691 approx. median household income
- DeKalb Av $121,151 approx. median household income
- Jay St - MetroTech $130,169 approx. median household income
- Court St $120,415 approx. median household income
- Whitehall St $149,494 approx. median household income
- Rector St $143,613 approx. median household income
- Cortlandt St $171,364 approx. median household income
- City Hall $232,543 approx. median household income
- Canal St $136,128 approx. median household income
- Prince St $83,315 approx. median household income
- 8 St - NYU $151,537 approx. median household income
- 14 St - Union Sq $158,685 approx. median household income
- 23 St $151,972 approx. median household income
- 28 St $130,246 approx. median household income
- 34 St - Herald Sq $110,430 approx. median household income
- Times Sq - 42 St $96,467 approx. median household income
- 49 St $141,857 approx. median household income
- 57 St - 7 Av $146,519 approx. median household income
- 5 Av/59 St $147,673 approx. median household income
- Lexington Av/59 St $151,446 approx. median household income
- Queens Plaza $94,869 approx. median household income
- 36 St $57,896 approx. median household income
- Steinway St $54,185 approx. median household income
- 46 St $55,833 approx. median household income
- Northern Blvd $66,014 approx. median household income
- 65 St $57,582 approx. median household income
- Jackson Hts - Roosevelt Av $57,631 approx. median household income
- Elmhurst Av $41,726 approx. median household income
- Grand Av - Newtown $54,477 approx. median household income
- Woodhaven Blvd $54,318 approx. median household income
- 63 Dr - Rego Park $57,449 approx. median household income
- 67 Av $65,628 approx. median household income
- Forest Hills - 71 Av $79,987 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.