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To come up with our list of the smartest cities of the future, we took the 52 metropolitan areas with more than 1,000,000 population and ranked them by percentage gains in people with college educations compared with the population over 25 years of age between 2007 and 2009, using the latest data from the American Community Survey provided by demographer Wendell Cox.
"How to Lie with Statistics" 101. I'm not calling you a liar, there is a book by that name that I had to read when I took statistics.
Percent gain is used so cities with a lower percentage at base will appear to be "brainier".
Very true. Many of those "big gainers" are small cities with low numbers of educated so they can add 50 new college grads and the percentage to jump up by 200%. And watch out NYC, Boston, or San Francisco!
Whereas a big city like NYC can 50,000 new grads but the percent increase will be nothing.
I guess the smaller town's growth is more "impressive". LOL
1. no way DT Houston lost 4000 people overall and managed to come out 6000+ in the positives on your professionals. Pure BS. The population they are showing for DT Houston now is even less than the number of young professionals that the area is supposed to have grown by.
2. If they are going by 3 Mile radius around dtwn then out the window goes the premise of their argument (Educated 20- and 30-somethings are flocking to live downtown in the USA's largest cities ) because dtwn is really small in physical size and living 3 miles out is certainly not the dt life they are making it out to be. Cross the Bayou north of DT and you are in pastures. If indeed those young professionals did move there, they are living in Houston's original suburbs: Heights, Montrose, etc
Fair enough. Just pick what study you want to believe and believe it.
Fair enough. Just pick what study you want to believe and believe it.
I will, in combination with what I see with my eyes
Edit: even the census disagreed with itself listing dt houston as the second fastest growing core area while at the same time showing a loss of 29%
The dt area as grown in population by 200% since 1995.
There are dozens of new and converted residential places in and around downtown.
One park place opened a few months before the census and by then the 346 unit building was already 80% leased.
Not even the census believes their own numbers
Last edited by HtownLove; 04-03-2011 at 09:16 AM..
Just as great in places like my hometown of Charlotte. The jump there is precisely why light-rail has succeeded there - high density in the close-in corridor that was very, very well planned. Many people have said that the sunbelt needs more of this as well; this data (and what it has led to in some cities, like Charlotte) should motivate other sunbelt cities.
If only the current political climate weren't so hostile to mass transit initiatives...but that's another subject.
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I'd also like to see some similar data for smaller cities around the country. I know of several smaller cities - Asheville and Charleston spring to mind - that were pretty much dead cities until urban pioneers rebuilt them from the ground up, so this obviously pertains to cities in the 50,000-100,000 population range as well, given how those cities have returned from near death, back into prosperity over roughly 40 years.
Well in Charleston's case, it wasn't really urban pioneers; it was mainly Mayor Joe Riley establishing public-private partnerships that revitalized downtown, starting with the Charleston Place hotel complex. He's had a very hands-on approach to transforming that city almost single-handedly. The guy is a legend.
Well in Charleston's case, it wasn't really urban pioneers; it was mainly Mayor Joe Riley establishing public-private partnerships that revitalized downtown, starting with the Charleston Place hotel complex. He's had a very hands-on approach to transforming that city almost single-handedly. The guy is a legend.
I never realized how new all of the Downtown Charleston development was. When I moved to SC, it was doing pretty well. So much so, I decided that Charleston is my backup plan when I get priced out of CA. Unless of course it is too expensive for me.
I never realized how new all of the Downtown Charleston development was. When I moved to SC, it was doing pretty well. So much so, I decided that Charleston is my backup plan when I get priced out of CA. Unless of course it is too expensive for me.
Yeah, even a lot of the historic stuff has only been rehabbed within the last 40 years or so which is relatively recently given the age of the city. It's still doing well and it's really only the lower peninsula and upscale suburban areas that are pricey.
Wow! Go St. Louis and Indianapolis for being the top two gainers based on percentage by quite a bit. Those numbers are really impressive. It's nice to see the Midwest on top.
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