AIDS has a strong presence in the city of Cleveland, which houses one third of all AIDS cases in the state of Ohio (1). What is more impressive than the overall number of AIDS cases are the correlations that emerge between the rates of AIDS and HIV/AIDS and factors such as poverty and economic distribution. Cleveland’s 478,403 residents are divided into thirty six neighborhoods, each of which varies greatly in geographic and socioeconomic layout (2). The AIDS and HIV/AIDS rate of Cleveland are 301.8 people per 100,000 and 513.8 people per 100,000 respectively, and the rates in each neighborhood deviate from this average. The AIDS rate in neighborhoods range from 51.2 people per 100,000 in Kamm’s Corners, where Cleveland’s highest housing values are located, to 1,213 people per 100,000 in Edgewater, Cleveland’s predominantly Gay neighborhood.  The Edgewater community is an outlier, meaning that its does not fallow many of the trends described and often distorts the correlation data. According to a study done by the Cleveland Department of Public Health in 2005, Cleveland has a cumulative number of 1,444 AIDS cases and 2,458 HIV/AIDS cases (2).

       Correlation is the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables, in this case the AIDS or HIV/AIDS rate, and another characteristic about the neighborhoods of Cleveland. In order to correctly asses the correlations between two variables, a relationship is given a correlation coefficient ranging from 1 to -1. There is a minimum correlation coefficient that must be met in order to reach 95% confidence and is determined by N, the sample size of data (n-2). In order to have 95% confidence a minimum correlation a coefficient of .334 is needed. Correlations do not infer a causal relationship and are therefore not causation. The correlation coefficient merely infers that there is some sort of connection between the two factors but one does not necessarily cause the other. Five main divisions should be considered when investigating the correlations between AIDS and HIV/AIDS rates in the neighborhoods of Cleveland. These categories include race, economic status, crime, family layout and education.