Wow, some very wild data from the U.S. Census about the make-up of New York. Accordin to the NY Times, the number of Manhattan children under the age of 5 has increased by more than 32%, and half of that growth is attributed to wealthy white families. And get this:
The analysis shows that Manhattan’s 35,000 or so white non-Hispanic toddlers are being raised by parents whose median income was $284,208 a year in 2005, which means they are growing up in wealthier households than similar youngsters in any other large county in the country.
Among white families with toddlers, San Francisco ranked second, with a median income of $150,763, followed by Somerset, N.J. ($136,807); San Jose, Calif. ($134,668); Fairfield, Conn. ($132,427); and Westchester ($122,240).
In comparison, the median income of other Manhattan households with toddlers was $66,213 for Asians, $31,171 for blacks and $25,467 for Hispanic families.
Nuts! There are also interesting thoughts on what this means: Wealthy families - especially dual-income ones where both parents work - are staying in the city instead of waving the white flag and retreating to the suburbs; the gap between the classes is widening even more, and other poorer classes will be priced out; and the city's vibrancy is keeping yuppies here, though the lack of good schooling - private and public - may force some stalwarts to move.
We found it interesting that two history professors, Fred Siegel of Cooper Union and Kenneth T. Jackson of Columbia, thought the information about a strong upper-middle-class was positive. Jackson told the Times, "Imagine the reverse — that nobody with money wants to live here, and then you have Detroit. I don’t see how anybody benefits in that circumstance.” Yeah - we see the growth in the following careers: Highly paid tutors who can deal with high maintenance parents when their kids don't get into the right pre-school, elaborate and wasteful children's party planners (we're totally going to learn how to make balloon animals for extra scratch), and kiddie chauffeurs.
