What Type Of Neighborhood Do You Live In?

[THUNDER HANDS]

When I was growing up, I lived in a section of Long Island that was pretty much 75% Italian and 25% Irish. Over the years the demographics changed dramatically - all the Irish left and most of the Italians too. Now my old hometown is about 50% black, 25% hispanic and 25% Indian.

The town that I moved to, and currently reside in, is about 75% Jewish and 25% Italian.

So what about your neck of the woods. What's the demographics like there?

[LuLu550]

1. I grew up on Long Island

"Motzoh-Pizza" says it all...but now where I live in upstate NY outside of Albany, it is lilly white and lots of Dutch families dating back to Henry Hudson.

[ThomWV]

25. Much Changed Over The Years

I grew up in DC, North West, 60's. It was fine. Went and lived in Miami for 7 years after I got out of the army. That was all right. Moved up here to West Virginia. Closest town is only 4 miles away, got a store and you can get gas or diesel. Nearest neighbor, either way, is about a half mile. Nice people, keep to themselves mostly. Its very quit here, and there is wild life of course. There's a road; old widow up the road and a couple of other people, mailman once a day, the dogs sleep in it a lot.

Now, where do you suppose I prefer?

Thom

[madddog]

38. sounds good...

I'm looking to bug out of here (No. VA) in a couple of years...been looking for places that sound like what you've got.

[Fovea]

2. 70%

Croat, Serb, and Bosnian.

30% everything else.

[THUNDER HANDS]

4. where's that...Michigan?

[mdmc]

3. upstate ny city ghetto

mixed like a George Lincon Rockwell nightmare.

[grannylib]

5. Small rural town, part of larger mini-metro (45,000) community in

Minnesota. This little burg has maybe 150 people; we are about 12 miles from the largest little city in the area, and about 2 hours SW of Minneapolis/St. Paul.
If it were not for the students at the local university, we would be almost all white, with a few Vietnamese, Laotian and Somali refugees.
Very middle-America, cornfed whitebread.
It's why I like living in the country (we are outside the 'city limits' of our little village) we can be whoever out here *lol*

[piece sine]

6. Dupont Circle in DC

famous for gays and the townhouses of rich and fanous who are too-cool to live in Georgetown and not Bohemian enough to live in trend-setting Adams-Morgan.

I live in a part of downtown where everyone is very liberal; where it's a given you support Dean (even if you don't!) and where gay men and women live in a San-Francsico-like atmosphere of unfettered tolerance. In my 'hood, handsome straight guys feel slightly slighted if the gay guys DON'T cruise them!

A good-looking straight Jewish dude living in Dupont Circle would be a HUGE catch in this neighborhood, where lovely ladies and gay guys far outnumber the Magic Rat types.

[THUNDER HANDS]

15. hmmm

::starts checking Dupont Circle real estate ads::

:D

[Terran]

21. That's where DU's offices are

You should drop in and harrass Skinner and the guys, I'm sure they would appreciate it! ;)

[piece sine]

23. seriously!

Man, I thought DU was out of NYC...they're in my 'hood?! I've probably seen them at Trio's and didn't know it! or having a coffee at Kramerbooks!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. Urban village type neighborhood in Minneapolis

Pretty much the traditional Minneapolis mix of Germans, Scandinavians, and WASPs, with a few Asians and the occasional African immigrant. Except for a few of the apartments, it's a rather affluent neighborhood, with big old houses and lots of trees.

However, just two or three miles away are large concentrations of Latino, Southeast Asian, and East African immigrants. Their presence has improved the Minneapolis restaurant scene immensely, compared with my childhood, when international cuisine meant lasagna at Sammy D's or chicken chow mein at the Nankin.

[RebelOne]

8. Suburban area north of Atlanta

Not sure of the percentage, but there are a lot of Hispanics, mostly Mexican.

[cmf]

9. I live a small rural town in Western Washington.

Population 7,000.

88% White non-Hispanic- mainly Scandinavians, everyone else are transplants from the Navy or retirees. 5% Latino, 2% Asian, 1% Black, 1% Native American, 3% something else.

It's about the whitest place I've ever lived.

[truthspeaker]

10. my city is the second most ethnically diverse city in Minnesota

But that ain't saying much. I would estimate that my neighborhood within the city is about equal parts white, black, and Hmong, with a smattering of Latino. It is one of the poorer sections of town (why I could afford to buy a house there), but my block is for the most part well-kept an low-crime. There is one house that has a lot of loud arguments and what I suspect is drug dealing, and there are a fair number of noise problems from car sound systems and what I call the "ghetto doorbell" (idle your car in the middle of the street in front of your buddy's house and honk the horn until someone comes out), and my garage was broken into, but that's about it. However on two occasions friends of mine have been pulled over for running stop signs near my house, and both times the cops claimed they could search their cars without permission because they were driving in an area known for drug-dealing. Naturally both my friends had weed in their cars.

[DemExpat]

11. My town used to be 95% Dutch....with a few Indonesians

and Surinamers from colonial days....

Now I live in a town with almost 50% of foreign origin....myself included. :-)

My neighborhood is a magnet for professional foreigners coming to work in The Hague in many of the new International organizations and United Nations (Court of Justice, etc.) departments being established here.
2 days ago while walking my dog down my street, everybody I passed was speaking a foeign language....and not the familiar German, French, Italian or Spanish...
Eastern European languages are heard here more and more.

DemEx

[prolesunited]

12. Working class, multiracial

neighborhood filled with older starter homes. Lot's of pride shown in well-maintained yards and gardens.

[wysimdnwyg]

13. New subdivision in a lower-middle-class area

I'd say it breaks down about like this:
45-50% White (Various ancestry)
30-35% Black
15-20% Hispanic
1-2% Asian

[bobja]

14. One of the first suburbs in San Diego

I'm about 2 miles from the city center. Our neighborhood was built in the 'teens and 20's - lots of bungalos and craftsman style houses. The people are a nice mixed lot - white, hispanic, asian, pacific islanders, black, young, old, gay, straight, professionals, working class, middle class. Very low crime rate.

What unites us all is that we have Democrats representing us from the city council level right up through the U.S. House and Senate.

Makes me proud!

[ZenLefty]

16. Yuppie scum

An older subdivision of mature landscape and architecturally beautiful brick bungalows. It's a little pricey, though, so most of the residents are 22-35 caucasian white collar middle class SUV drivers. In other words, yuppie scum*. We're predominantly democratic, though, so we're not all that bad. :)

* I mean that in a nice way...

[Loonman]

17. BU suburb

45% 10-12 separate ethnicities, 10% nice college kids, 45% obnoxious college kids.

[XNASA]

18. Here's the stats, from a 2000 survey.

We live in a medium-sized suburb in a large metropolitan area.

Homewood Population: 19543 100.00%

Sex and Age
Male 9006 46.08%
Female 10537 53.92%

Under 5 years 1140 5.83%
5 to 9 years 1478 7.56%
10 to 14 years 1680 8.6%
15 to 19 years 1400 7.16%
20 to 24 years 656 3.36%
25 to 34 years 1904 9.74%
35 to 44 years 3331 17.04%
45 to 54 years 3098 15.85%
55 to 59 years 948 4.85%
60 to 64 years 699 3.58%
65 to 74 years 1436 7.35%
75 to 84 years 1289 6.6%
85 years and over 484 2.48%

Median age (years) 39.8

18 years and over 14245 72.89%
Male 6343 32.46%
Female 7902 40.43%
21 years and over 13687 70.04%
62 years and over 3614 18.49%
65 years and over 3209 16.42%
Male 1179 6.03%
Female 2030 10.39%

Race
One race 19239 98.44%
White 15270 78.14%
Black or African American 3422 17.51%
American Indian and Alaska Native 20 0.1%
Asian 307 1.57%
Asian indian 84 0.43%
Chinese 66 0.34%
Filipino 49 0.25%
Japanese 11 0.06%
Korean 47 0.24%
Vietnamese 10 0.05%
Other Asian 40 0.2%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 13 0.07%
Native Hawaiian 0 0%
Guamanian or Chamorro 0 0%
Samoan 1 0.01%
Other Pacific Islander 12 0.06%
Some other race 207 1.06%
Two or more races 304 3.0 %

Hispanic or Latino and race
Total Population 19543 100.00%
Hispanic or Latino(of any race) 597 3.05%
Mexican 451 2.31%
Puerto Rican 49 0.25%
Cuban 15 0.08%
Other Hispanic or Latino 82 0.42%
Not Hispanic or Latino 18946 96.95%
White alone 14936 76.43%

Relationship
Total Population 19543 100.00%
In households 19249 98.5%
Householder 7552 38.64%
Spouse 4210 21.54%
Child 6461 33.06%
Own child under 18 years 5046 25.82%
Other relatives 576 2.95%
Under 18 years 186 0.95%
Nonrelatives 450 2.3%
Unmarried partner 197 1.01%
In group quarters 294 3.6 %
Instituntionalized population 294 1.5%
Noninstitutionalized population 0 0%

Households by Type
Total Households 7552 100.0 %
Family households (families) 5259 69.64%
With own children under 18 years 2688 35.59%
Married-couple family 4210 55.75%
With own children under 18 years 2120 28.07%
Female householder, no husband present 849 11.24%
With own children under 18 years 477 6.32%
Non Family households 2293 30.36%
Householder living alone 2085 27.61%
Householder 65 years and over 999 13.23%

Households with individuals under 18 years 2821 37.35%
Households with individuals 65 years and over 2209 29.25%

Average Household size 2.55
Average family size 3.14

[trof]

22. Homewood?

The "over-the-mountain" Homewood?
In Alabama?

[XNASA]

29. Me? Live in Alabama?

Not exactly, trof.

I live about 20 miles south of the Chicago Loop, in Homewood, Illinois.

I imagine that Homewood Alabama and Homewood Illinois couldn't be more different. Except for the name part.

[trof]

32. Kind of a medium-to upscale bedroom community

of Birmingham.
I used to live down the street from Clarence Kelly who was Agent-in-Charge in B'ham and later became director of the FBI.
Now I remember there is a Homewood, IL.
Probably a lot of others, too.

[flamingyouth]

36. North of Chicago?

I have a friend who grew up there in Homewood.

[XNASA]

37. South of Chicago, actually.

Near I-80, about 7 miles west of the IL/IN border.

[trof]

19. 100% white.

A middle-aged Vietnamese wife down the street is about as close as we come to any kind of ethnic diversity. Her husband met her over there when he was in the army.
Probably half-and-half northerners/mid-westerners and native southerners. Oddly enough, we have half a dozen Brits, including one couple we dragged down here from NH with us.
Mostly retired, including me.
A lot of Lincolns and Mercedes (not me, mini-van).
One Hummer.
Half the houses are on the bay.
Probably average 3500 sq. ft., but some much larger, a few smaller. Mine's about 2400.
Waterfront lots are an acre to 1 1/4. Interior lots are 2-3 acres.
Prices, especially waterfront, have tripled in the 10+ years we've been here. I couldn't afford to buy my house today.
We cut our own grass, do our own landscaping, but the neighborhood probably supports 2 or 3 landscaping companies.
We're pretty much on the lower end of the economic scale here.
The whole county and our neighborhood is predominantly conservative repug. Got a couple of closet Dems here.
4 doctors, 3 judges, 1 postmaster, a few retired military. 8 or 10 former/current pilots.

All in all, we're a pretty social group. There's a neighborhood clubhouse where we gather for the 4th & such. Christmas party is coming up. Nothing fancy, just a big room, kitchen, and a couple of restrooms.

[5thGenDemocrat]

27. Mixed-bag ethnic

Probably 60 percent white, 20 percent black and 20 percent Hispanic (which, here, means of Mexican descent). It's been about the same since my family moved in here in 1961.
The street I live on is three blocks long, and we've lived here longer than anyone else -- the second longest-term residents moved into their house in 1970 or so. I am within three blocks of two major hospitals and two blocks from the city's Art Museum. The elementary/junior high school I attended is four blocks away.
It is a quiet and safe neighborhood, and I know the names of the folks who live on any side of me. Mrs. W (Joanne), immediately to the east, feeds my cats her leftovers and they love her very, very much. Tom, immediately to the west, tolerates my big ugly school bus and is forever handing me very cool stuff he no longer wants (Tom probably has the best, highest-paying job of anyone here on E Ave -- though there are several UAW people living here).
My house, built in 1877, is the third oldest house I can actually see from here and the oldest north of the street. It is 840 square feet -- slightly smaller than average. It sits on a lot 70 by 55 feet, which is probably about typical. It was moved from its previous site, one block east of here, in 1951.
Most folks, I would guess, are Democrats -- though I'm certain Tom is a Repub of the old-fashioned, Eisenhower variety.
Economics are lower middle class, but there are exceptions both higher and lower. It is, truly, a neighborhood. I'll die here and bequeath the house to one of the nieces or nephews.
John
Saginaw is a great place to live.

[Ediacara]

20. grew up in mostly white suburb, live in a mostly white college town

I grew up in Redmond Washington, which is a nice place, much more diverse now than it was in the 80s. I live now in Bozeman Montana, and like all of Montana, it's mostly white with the largest minority group being Native Americans. Because Bozeman is a college town there are more black, and Asian students than the rest of the state, but not very many.

[populistmom]

24. Mostly white people, cookie cutter ranches

I suppose lower middle class. There seems to be a mix of working class duel income families and professionals where the mom is at home. Most are Catholic, but some Protestant, and only one Jewish family I know of. There's a handful of people of Latino or African decent or biracial families, but not enough. I like where I live in a way because it much more diverse than much of the polarized towns that surround Hartford, but I grew up in a bigger city (Omaha, which was about 1/2 million when I lived there), also spending lots of time in the rural area of my grandparent's farm. Suburban life isn't always comfortable for me, but this one's better than some I suppose.

[SoCalDem]

26. United Nations variety

Our house was built in 1979, so a lot of them have long ago been changed to rentals.. There are people of every type here.. Some with kids, some without.. oldsters, young ones, middles.. we even have a group home for middle aged mentally ill (not the dangerous type) One lady sits on the porch and sings and waves to everyone..

I wanted to move years ago, but now that the kids are grown & gone, I no longer really think we will ever move.. We have SO MUCH junk, it would probably KILL us both if we ever had to box it all up and lug it to another house..

[Lizz612]

28. All Girls!!

I live in the all girls dorm on campus.
And there is no city near campus unless you count the grave stones.

[Beaker]

30. very diverse- I couldn't even guess what and how many-

ethnicities are represented in my northwest side of Chicago neighborhood, but there are a lot of whites and Koreans, some Hispanic, some Scandanavian, some Arabic, some Jewish.

There is one thing I can be absolutely sure of, however-

Korean women are absolutely the worst drivers on the planet...or at least in my neighborhood.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

31. Cambridge, MA: "Epcot Manhattan", "United Nations"

There is also a large Brazilian, Portuguese, and Haitian population in Cambridge. The variety of ethnic stores, restaurants and businesses is astounding. There is also a mosque down the street from me, as well as a Buddhist Temple, African Methodist Church, Synagogue, and several Catholic churches.

Population (year 2000): 101,355
Males: 49,674 (49.0%), Females: 51,681 (51.0%)

Land area: 6.4 square miles

Median resident age: 30.4 years
Median household income: $57,979
Median house value: $425,500

Races in Cambridge:

White Non-Hispanic (64.6%)
Black (11.9%)
Hispanic (7.4%)
Chinese (4.8%)
Two or more races (4.6%)
Other race (3.2%)
Asian Indian (2.7%)
Korean (1.9%)
Other Asian (1.1%)
Japanese (0.9%)
American Indian (0.8%)
(Total can be greater than 100% because Hispanics could be counted in other races)

Ancestries: Irish (13.3%), English (9.2%), German (7.9%), Italian (7.5%), West Indian (5.1%), Russian (3.8%).

[Catherine Vincent]

33. Northwest Houston

I'd say it's 65% black, 25% hispanic, 5% asian and 5% white. Years ago my subdivision was majority white but most of them left due to white flight.

[DemExpat]

40. Which neighborhood is that, Cat...?

I lived in Spring Branch in the 60s...my parents lived until their death in Spring Woods off of Gessner...they were also being boxed in by newcomers.

:hi:
DemEx

[Bertha Venation]

34. where I grew up vs where I live

Where I grew up: at the time it was about 80% white, 20% Hispanic. In the mid-70s that shifted: the white population shrunk while the Hispanic grew and the Vietnamese/Cambodian/Laotian exploded. (I grew up not far from the Orange County, CA, community of Little Saigon.)

Now, where I grew up is pretty evenly mixed Asian/Hispanic/White.

Where I live now: my neighborhood is roughly 70% white, 30% black; my county, about 40% black, 40% white, and 20% Hispanic. (I think. Haven't lived here too long.)

[flamingyouth]

35. First Hill in Seattle

Very diverse, I love it. All kinds of languages spoken here and a lot of economic diversity. I grew up in Ballard, which was very white when I lived there ('70s-'80s). I feel I fit in much better here.

[ACK]

39. South Riding VA

Upper Middle Class Northern VA neighborhood.

Is it whitebread? Yeah kind of. There are a lot of Indian neighbors and a South American neighbor beside me and a Philipino family behind us. So, it is not too bad. Real freeper have to be Repub type community at large in the county.

However, I do know of three other Dem families in the neighborhood.

[electricmonk]

41. Grew up in the lilly white part of town

Currently living in a racially diverse but economically homogeneous area. I would guess 50% black, 40% white, 10% others. The zip code as a whole is 50% white and 45% black, income in 1999 was 70% under $29,000, 26% under $10,000.

[Rowdyboy]

42. Small town (15000) north of Jackson

population 80% black, 19% white protestant (with a strong hispanic community beginning to emerge). Small Catholic community, tiny Jewish community.