Among the thirty NBA teams, there are thirty arenas for each organization to showcase their abilities. Each arena has their own locale, but does the average household income have any correlation with ticket sales revenue?
To assess this, the current top-10 teams across the NBA based on win-loss record were selected. Since a less productive team would naturally attract less viewers, the most elite teams in the league were chosen. According to ESPN, the current standings are as follows:
- Oklahoma City Thunder (50-15)
- San Antonio Spurs (47-17)
- Detroit Pistons (45-18)
- Boston Celtics (43-21)
- New York Knicks (41-24)
- Minnesota Timberwolves (40-24)
- Houston Rockets (39-24)
- Cleveland Cavaliers (39-25)
- Los Angeles Lakers (39-25)
- Denver Nuggets (39-25)
Using this information, stadium location and average household income were identified. Stadium location was found using ESPN and average household income was found using census.gov. Then, the average ticket price for a 2026 regular season home game was identified using Vivid Seats, a ticket sales website with over 100 million tickets sold.
| Team | Stadium Location | Average Household Income | Average Home Game Ticket Price |
| Oklahoma City Thunder | Downtown (Oklahoma City, OK) | $68,656 | $154.65 |
| San Antonio Spurs | East Side (San Antonio, TX) | $47,030 | $89.17 |
| Detroit Pistons | The District Detroit (Detroit, MI) | $39,575 | $121.42 |
| Boston Celtics | West End (Boston, MA) | $96,787 | $142.47 |
| New York Knicks | Midtown Manhattan (New York City, NY) | $133,042 | $141.64 |
| Minnesota Timberwolves | North Loop (Minneapolis, MN) | $117,670 | $88.43 |
| Houston Rockets | Downtown (Houston, TX) | $64,361 | $96.74 |
| Cleveland Cavaliers | Gateway District (Cleveland, OH) | $35,600 | $76.08 |
| Los Angeles Lakers | South Park (Los Angeles, CA) | $56,277 | $261.97 |
| Denver Nuggets | Centre Platte Valley (Denver, CO) | $94,718 | $82.39 |
Clearly, from the data presented, there is not much of a correlation between surrounding household income and ticket price. Rather, the ticket price is better determined by team appeal or elite players.
With a correlation of -0.0269, the strength is negligible. When looking at the dataset, the average household income of the surrounding area does not tell one much about the average home game ticket price. Since there is an inverse relationship, as average household income increases, average home game ticket price decreases. The points scattered all over the graph create a high dispersion, also creating the incapability to create a clear line of best fit.
