The NYTimes reports that, even in the more livable cities, families with kids are choosing to live elsewhere:
It is a problem unlike the urban woes of cities like Detroit and Baltimore, where families have fled decaying neighborhoods, business areas and schools. Portland is one of the nation's top draws for the kind of educated, self-starting urbanites that midsize cities are competing to attract. But as these cities are remodeled to match the tastes of people living well in neighborhoods that were nearly abandoned a generation ago, they are struggling to hold on to enough children to keep schools running and parks alive with young voices.San Francisco, where the median house price is now about $700,000, had the lowest percentage of people under 18 of any large city in the nation, 14.5 percent, compared with 25.7 percent nationwide, the 2000 census reported. Seattle, where there are more dogs than children, was a close second. Boston, Honolulu, Portland, Miami, Denver, Minneapolis, Austin and Atlanta, all considered, healthy, vibrant urban areas, were not far behind.
The birth rates for American women are down, and city public schools tend not to be as highly-rated as suburban schools, but that's not the whole story. Parents just can't afford the space they need to rear children in most cities.
I find this article fascinating in part because I work in Philadelphia. I don't know where it is on the list of "healthy, vibrant" urban areas, but certainly there are some trendy neighborhoods where crime is very low. However, the cost of housing here has skyrocketed lately. The last place I rented in the Art Museum area was a house that was only 700 square feet and in desperate need of repair, yet its price nearly tripled in six years. When I looked to buy, almost anything safe in Philly was far more than I wanted to pay.
So I ended up in the 'burbs - albeit burbs that are contiguous to the city, but the 'burbs nonetheless. Upper Darby has incredibly inexpensive housing, and a family with only one breadwinner can easily afford to buy a 1500-square-foot rowhome. I don't remember seeing that many kids in the city neighborhoods I inhabited before, whereas my current block is stuffed to the gills with children of every shape, size, and color. The humongous Upper Darby High School has close to 3000 students, and there's another public high school (in a separate district) just a mile or two away. Upper Darby is 80,000 people packed into less than 8 square miles, and I'd bet half the inhabitants are under 18 (there are nine public elementary schools in the district).
Portland may be suffering the loss of school district monies, but if you ask me, Upper Darby has a bit too much of a good thing. It's fun on Halloween, but not when you're trying to parallel park on a narrow one-way street with parking on both sides and little girls double-dutching in vacant spots.
(Via Joanne.)
Posted by kswygert at March 24, 2005 11:41 AM