Suburbs in the News: Brookings Demographer William H. Frey on the “Great Suburban Demographic Shift”

We’ve written before about the “great debate” regarding whether the great American love affair with the suburbs is ending: whether the historic migration pattern of city-to-suburb has started to reverse (no), whether young people are prefer to live in the city over the suburbs (duh!), and whether it’s environmentally ethical to raise kids in the city (it depends).  A major part of this argument comes from the Brookings Institute, which has analyzed census data to argue that the nature of the suburbs is changing.

With that in mind, here’s a link to an interview with Brookings demographer William H. Frey, who talks about his findings and what he thinks of the new suburbia.  Some of the key points:

• The demographics of the suburbs are changing: less white, more hispanic and African-American.
• Accordingly, the racial and ethnic makeup of the suburbs is becoming more like society as a whole.
• Many of the “original” suburbanites are now seniors, making way for much of this demographic change.
• With the demographic evolving, we might see systematic changes in the character and makeup of the suburbs.

Lots of interesting stuff. Take a look.