"Demographic Inversion" in USA: Cities Are Now ... White Again!

Posted by Alex in Politics, Travel & Places on August 6, 2008 at 1:22 pm


Since after World War II, nearly every major American cities experienced white flight, which left major urban areas with predominantly black population.

For the past few decades, however, a stark (yet quiet) reversal is taking place: "a demographic inversion" that is re-shaping the make up of American cities.

In this interesting piece for The New Republic, Alan Ehrenhalt discussed the "reverse white flight" phenomenon, its causes and how it would affect urban life:

In the past three decades, Chicago has undergone changes that are routinely described as gentrification, but are in fact more complicated and more profound than the process that term suggests. A better description would be "demographic inversion." Chicago is gradually coming to resemble a traditional European city–Vienna or Paris in the nineteenth century, or, for that matter, Paris today. The poor and the newcomers are living on the outskirts. The people who live near the center–some of them black or Hispanic but most of them white–are those who can afford to do so.

Link – Thanks Eric Zimmermann!


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8 comments to ""Demographic Inversion" in USA: Cities Are Now ... White Again!"

  1. Lore
    August 6th, 2008 at 4:15 pm

    Yep. It's happening all across the state. NE portland especially. African Americans can't afford their taxes on the houses that they own and so they have to sell and it's all the hip younger kids coming in.

  2. Neatoramawontsendmeapassword
    August 6th, 2008 at 6:28 pm

    It's happening in a lot of places, and it's not just based on colour. I think it has more to do with what people can afford. I can't afford to live in the nearest city, and I'm white. But there's a huge Chinese population there that seems to have no problem throwing down half a million dollars for a condo the size of a closet.

    It's money... not necessarily race.

  3. secret asian man
    August 6th, 2008 at 9:17 pm

    I say we dust off and nuke the yuppies from orbit.

    It's the only way to be sure.

  4. Chad Cloman
    August 7th, 2008 at 1:10 am

    I can definitely confirm that this is happening in Denver, CO. Lots of expensive condos in and around downtown.

  5. JC
    August 7th, 2008 at 1:23 am

    I think this is common in bigger cities, beyond race.

  6. Melissa
    August 7th, 2008 at 10:55 am

    I think part of it has to do with people waiting till later in life to marry and/or have children. It allows for people to have the kind of lifestyle that's the most fun in downtown areas longer. The interaction with lots of different strangers and fast pace of city life is more alluring to singles and childless couples. Some of the same effect applies to the swarm of baby boomers with their children finally grown up and on their own.

    Suburbia is more for families. When you're married and have kids and such, you don't have as much time or desire for the interaction of urban life and things like cultural events and restaurants and clubs and such aren't as convenient or affordable or desireable. Suburbia is dull and lonely for singles and childless couples.

  7. hhype
    August 7th, 2008 at 11:12 am

    The headline for this post should probably more appropriately read - Cities are now rich again! - rather than white again. Even the article makes the assertion that housing process are rising in the cities and forcing lower income residents out. I know that income is correlated with race but the conclusion is that cities are costing more to live in and that that is driving a change in the socio-economic demographics of cities and suburbs.

  8. Dru
    August 8th, 2008 at 4:11 pm

    That sounds just like Manhattan, and coming soon to Parts of Brooklyn.


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