Apartment Therapy Ohdeedoh | Blogging NYT: City versus Suburbs?

Blogging NYT: City versus Suburbs?

According to the 2000 census, and the New York Times, the number of children under age 5 living in Manhattan mushroomed by more than 32 percent, and that growth surge is due to wealthy caucasian families having children.

1 in 20 Manhattanites is under the age of five, a number pretty comparable to (gasp!) many suburbs in America. Is Manhattan the new suburbs?

What is really stunning are the family income numbers being quoted in this article. According to the NYT, in 2005, Manhattan's 35,000(ish) white, non-hispanic toddlers lived in families with a median income of $284,208. The numbers are vastly different for Asian families ($66,213), African-American families ($31,171) and Hispanic families($25,467).

Yes, we know that socio-economic disparity isn't new, and neither is seeing it broken down so clearly along racial lines. What this article suggests though, is that the old pattern of couples living in a city while young and childless and then moving to the suburbs to raise a family may be breaking down, and that parents may be staying in cities even after the arrival of their children.

Is it quality of life? An 'either/or' choice? Is it better to raise children in the city (any city) or in the suburbs?

Photo credit: Fred R. Conrad, New York Times

Comments (2)

I grew up in New York and I'm also raising my kids in a (different but still big) city. The advantages: exposure to a broad range of races, ethnicities and cultures, the ability to get around on public transportation and therefore being more independent at an early age, and enjoying museums, concerts and theater every weekend. Downsides: terrible public schools (my parents couldn't afford private school), and exposure to homelessness and crime. But I think the pluses outweighed the minues.

posted by Li on April 18th 2007 at 5:57am
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We pay dearly for the 10 minute taxi home instead of working the same long day and spending 2 hours commuting. Part of this is because the bedroom communities with good schools close to the city are now unaffordable, and getting in and out of the city takes a long time. My friends in Montclair all say its great, until they move to Boston, at which point they admit that the commute was a terrible burden. We thought of moving but we were put off by the homogeneity of the places we looked at that had good public schools and were in a reasonable commute. I do think there is a lot of multi-cultural exposure in everyday life here that cannot be had in the suburbs. You cannot escape it here.

posted by Original A on April 18th 2007 at 7:14pm
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