In the late 1980s, many residents were moving out of Charleston, S.C.,’s Eastside neighborhood due to a lack of job opportunities. The area became depressed. But things are changing there and throughout America, as many cities are undergoing rapid gentrification due to escalating home prices. But modern urban gentrification can get complicated, urban planners say.
“It’s a trade-off,” says David Fiorenza, an urban economics professor at Villanova University. “Whole communities can be displaced. But people [also] can benefit from it, because home values and business values go up … and eventually, there will be more jobs and better schools.”
Realtor.com®’s research team analyzed cities whose populations were 50,000 or more between 2000 and 2015 and examined the U.S. Census Tracts of neighborhoods of 1,200 to 8,000 residents. The team focused on lower-income areas where home values had the potential for gentrification and then compared home values and residents’ income and education levels from 2000 to 2015 to find out which cities are seeing the most significant turnaround.
Realtor.com® noted the following cities are seeing the most gentrification lately:
- Charleston, S.C.
- Asheville, N.C.
- Washington, D.C.
- Portland, Ore.
- Denver, Colo.
- Nashville, Tenn.
- Sacramento, Calif.
- Jersey City, N.J.
Source: “The U.S. Cities That Are Gentrifying the Fastest – You’ll Never Guess No. 1,” realtor.com® (Jan. 23, 2017)
