Ever notice how annoying the guy is at the party who spouts statistics all evening? He knows everything about everything. People shy away from him like he has the plague. Who cares what Mickey Mantle's batting average was in 1960? Statistics are boring. But statistics are used for all kinds of things. The City of Alliance has to use statistics about the city to get grants or do various reporting to funding sources.

The following statistics may bore you to tears. You at least have the option to stop reading at any time. No offense will be taken, since no one will know you stopped reading unless you confess. So, here goes.

The City of Alliance has a population of 23,195, according to the 2000 Census. City officials think that number is too low, but there's not much we can do about it since the Census people say they are right and we are wrong about the numbers. One would think the city would know better how many people live here, but hey, who are we to argue with Census statistics?

The 2002 median income for a family of four in Alliance is $30,160. The median income for a family of four in Stark County is $51,900. Residents of Alliance earn around 58% of other residents of Stark County, which includes the other cities and villages in the county. Certain sections of the county, like Jackson Township, probably drive up the county's median income since it is by far the wealthiest area of the county.

On December 18, 2001 the State of Ohio, Department of Development, designated the City of Alliance a Situational Distress Municipal Corporation as defined in the Ohio Revised Code Section 5733.33. That designation is both a good and bad thing. No one likes to be in any kind of distress and that's a bad thing. But the designation does allow certain corporations within the city to take a larger deduction on their state corporate taxes. And that's a good thing.

Another interesting statistic about the city is the number of seniors we have. Seniors include anyone over the age of 55, according to the U.S. Census. We won't win that argument either, so we'll just live with it. Anyway, seniors make up 24.2% of Alliance's population. Out of 23,195 residents, 5,621 are over age 55. Again, that's both good and bad. Maybe our high senior population is drawing more good doctors here. That's good. But a high senior population may show we are losing our young people. That's bad. But then again, the senior restaurant menu for 55 and older is cheaper. It all depends on your point of view.

The truth about statistics is that they can be used to prove almost any point you want them to prove. You can twist and turn statistics for your own purposes. It's done every day. What statistics don't show is the heart of a city. Alliance is a city with heart. Alliance is a survivor. And that is surely a good thing.