The New York Times reported recently on Census Bureau data that really challenges some long-held belief about who lives in and moves to the suburbs:
The country’s biggest population gains were in suburban areas. But, in a departure from past decades when whites led the rise, now it is because of minorities. More than a third of all 13.3 million new suburbanites were Hispanic, compared with 2.5 million blacks and 2 million Asians. In all, whites accounted for a fifth of suburban growth.
The information comes from the American Community Survey, which gathers data from about 10% of Americans between 2005 and 2009. As the Legally Sociable blog pointed out, “the recent trend runs counter to the typical American immigrant experience one learns about in history class where immigrants settled first in big cities…then moved out to the suburbs in subsequent generations.”
If indeed we’re seeing a demographic shift like that in the suburbs, with increasing numbers of immigrants, that could be something that starts to soften the stark differences between the urban and suburban experience. If we’re really looking at a future where the suburbs are less “lily-white” and more diverse and ethnic, we might start to see the suburban experience bring more of both the advantages and the challenges of a vibrant and growing immigrant culture.
For example, at the risk of trivializing what is a very real and important demographic issue, maybe I’ll be able to get a decent bowl of soup or something out here.
[…] moved to the suburbs, and then the Crips and the Bloods (that was a big day for us), and then immigrants in general. We’ve also discussed the debate about whether people in general are still moving out to […]