[hackerspaces] Background stats for hackerspace business plan

[Mark Janssen]

> Can anyone know of sources for:
> U.S. engineering and STEM stats by state and city?

I would guess that it would be about 10-30% of school population as a
rough figure.

> Does anyone know if these have been used to predict likely hacker or makerspace membership in a given city or metro area?

I don't think so on any broad scale, but it would probably be about
the same percentage with membership at the edges defecting/coming from
other disciplines (like art).

> Also, does anyone know of a maximum optimum travel radius for a hackerspace? I'm guessing that
> most people don't want to travel more that 20 minutes, max 1/2 hour to their space.

This is highly dependent on leadership (there is wide variance here)
and the type of space -- whether focused on physical prototyping or
socializing.  I'd say safe locations are near universities, but if
you're leading a revolution you can take cheap industrial space in the
middle of nowhere and make a success.

> Are there any other stats that you've found useful in your business plans?

The only useful stats are income - expenses > 0.

Just my 2 cents worth,

MarkJ