The State of Metropolitan America
May 8, 2010 10:51 PM Subscribe
The Brookings Institution’s
Metropolitan Policy Program (led by
Bruce Katz) has just released its
The State of Metropolitan America report (full
pdf). The report builds on eight years of the Census Bureau’s
American Community Surveys; and includes a spiffy
State of Metropolitan America Indicator Map of changes in population indicators at state, metropolitan, and suburban levels.160;160;
Some interesting
findings:
- America's suburbs are now more likely to be home to minorities, the poor and a rapidly growing older population as many younger, educated whites move to cities for jobs and shorter commutes.
- Two-thirds of primary cities in large metropolitan areas grew from 2000 to 2008
- For the first time in several decades, the population is growing at a faster rate than households, due to delays in marriage, divorce and births as well as longer life spans. People living alone and nonmarried couple families are among the fastest-growing in suburbs.
For additional finding on
- Population and Migration
- Two-thirds of primary cities in large metropolitan areas grew from 2000 to 2008
- Race and Ethnicity
- For the first time, a majority of all racial/ethnic groups in large metro areas live in the suburbs.
- Immigration
- Ten states, led by Arizona, surpass the nation in a "cultural generation gap" in which the senior populations are disproportionately white and children are mostly minority.
- Age
- Households and Families
- Educational Attainment
- Work
- Poverty and Income
- The suburban poor grew by 25 percent between 1999 and 2008 — five times the growth rate of the poor in cities. City residents are more likely to live in "deep" poverty, while a higher share of suburban residents have incomes just below the poverty line.
- Commuting
- Policy Implications
To fill this out with some Canadian flavour a recent report from Statistics Canada made a huge splash up here a while ago reporting that Canada will be 1/3 non-white/non-aboriginal by 2031.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/03/09/statscan-minority.html
Current demographics of toronto support the situation outlined in this post. The Greater Toronto Area is almost 50/50 white/non white already, and is projected to be 63% non white by 2031. On the other hand, the downtown core of toronto (about a million people) is one of the most white regions in the GTA at 70%, while certain suburbs such as Scarborough are already in the 60% region of non white.
From what I've seen, trends will tend to amplify this situation, with white people only maintaining a majority in the downtown core.
It's pretty neat stuff.
posted by Alex404 at 1:37 AM on May 9, 2010