Urban Gentrification Typifies Growing Economic Polarization

A snapshot of urban gentrification in San Francisco shows what is happening throughout the U.S., according to a new Brookings Report. The middle class is not only losing ground, but entire neighborhoods, and the consequences are far-reaching.

1 minute read

June 23, 2006, 8:00 AM PDT

By Irvin Dawid

"The gentrification of San Francisco's neighborhoods reflects one facet of a national trend: the decline of middle-income neighborhoods in metropolitan America, according to a report released today by the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C."

"In San Francisco and across the Bay Area, middle-class neighborhoods are disappearing as the skyrocketing cost of housing forces middle-income families to flee in search of affordability."

"If the only place you're building middle-income housing is in the Central Valley, that's where middle-income growth will go," said Alan Berube, a Brookings fellow who oversaw the study.

"The study looked at the income levels for families and neighborhoods in the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas from 1970 to 2000 and found that the decline in the number of middle-income neighborhoods outpaced the fall-off in middle-income families. That's partly a consequence...of people 'sorting themselves' into richer and poorer neighborhoods with less economic mixing."

FULL STORY: RICH CITY POOR CITY Middle-class neighborhoods are disappearing from the nation's cities, leaving only high- and low-income districts, new study says

Thursday, June 22, 2006 in The San Francisco Chronicle

Housing Social / Demographics Urban Development United States California

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