Who Lives Downtown?

Posted by: Chris Steins

16 November 2005 - 1:00pm

During the 1990s, downtown population grew by 10 percent, a marked resurgence following 20 years of overall decline, according to a new study, "Who Lives Downtown?".

Among the findings of an analysis of downtown population, household, and income trends in 44 selected cities from 1970 to 2000:

During the 1990s, downtown population grew by 10 percent, a marked resurgence following 20 years of overall decline. Forty percent of the sample cities began to see growth before the 1990s. While only New York's two downtown areas and Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Diego saw steady increases from 1970 to 2000, another 13 downtowns have experienced sustained growth since the 1980s.

From 1970 to 2000, the number of downtown households increased 8 percentâ€”13 percent in the 1990s aloneâ€”and their composition shifted. Households grew faster than population in downtowns, reflecting the proliferation of smaller households of singles, unrelated individuals living together, and childless married couples.

Downtown homeownership rates more than doubled during the thirty-year period, reaching 22 percent by 2000. Overall the number of homeowners grew steadily each decade. By 2000, the share of homeowners across the sample downtowns swung from a high of 41 percent in Chicago to a low of just 1 percent in Cincinnati.

Downtowns are home to some of the most and least affluent households of their cities and regions. Twenty of the sample downtownsâ€”such as Midtown Manhattan, Dallas, and Miamiâ€”have at least one tract where the median income is higher than that of their MSA as a whole. Thirty-eight have at least one tract 50 percent or lower than their MSA median.

While this analysis demonstrates good news for downtown residential development overall, demographic, market, and social trends differ substantially from place to place. Urban leaders need to understand these patterns so they can make investment decisions that best capitalize on their unique assets.

Full Story: Who Lives Downtown? (PDF, 350KB)

Source: The Brookings Institution, November 15, 2005