The Decline of the Middle Class Neighborhood

A consistent discussion topic at cocktail parties, museum openings, dive bars, and on Exit133 is the price of real estate in Tacoma.  We’re amazed at how expensive it’s becoming in some neighborhoods and lament the fact that we often couldn’t buy our houses again if we wanted to today.  Our neighborhoods are changing – for good or otherwise.  A Brooking’s Institute study  recently looked at the impact of neighborhood gentrification on middle-income families.

Although middle-income families have declined considerably as a share of the overall family income distribution, it is noteworthy that middle-class neighborhoods have disappeared even faster in metropolitan areas, especially in cities. This trend suggests increased sorting of high- and low-income families into neighborhoods that reflect their own economic profiles, and increased vulnerability of middle-class neighborhoods “tipping” towards higher- or lower-income status. The resulting disparities among neighborhoods create new challenges for policies to enhance household mobility, improve the delivery of key public services, and promote private-sector investment in struggling locales.

The study seems to reflect several comments we’ve received on this website.  While we seem to like our prices heading skyward and our neighborhoods getting more hip and/or quieter, what other challenges could this create for us – the collective city, community, and personal us? 

Link to The Washington Post

Link to the Brooking’s Institute