Inman News reports today that a recent study by The Brookings Institution discovered that the number of middle-income neighborhoods in US metro areas decreased from 1970 to 2000. They declined from 58 percent to 41 percent.
The study, which examined 12 metro areas, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Indianapolis, Los Angeles-Long Beach, Louisville, Ky., Oakland, Calif., Philadelphia, San Antonio, Texas, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., shows an increase in low-income neighborhoods and very high-income, affluent neighborhoods.
Los Angeles had the highest increase in high-income neighborhoods, at 18 percent, while Atlanta showed the highest increase of low-income neighborhoods, at 17.4 percent.
The study shows that quite a change occurred in between 1970 and 2000.
"In 1970, more than half of both lower-income and higher-income families lived in a neighborhood that could be described as middle-income ... and over two-thirds of middle-income families lived in these locations," the report states. "By 2000, however, just 37 percent of lower-income families and 48 percent of middle-income families inhabited middle-income neighborhoods."
The data shows that lower-income families "seem to enjoy greater access to middle-income neighborhoods in suburbs than in cities," according to the report.
What caused the change? Experts believe that a number of factors contributed, including there being fewer developments built with the middle-class in mind, as well as "gentrification" that has converted many middle-income areas into high-income areas.
Increased property values have transitioned many Americans from being middle-class to becoming wealthy and more affluent.
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