Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Not necessarily based on fact, but based on perception.
Northeast:
Boston - White
Providence - Blue
Philadelphia - Blue
NYC - White
Washington DC - White
Baltimore - Blue
Pittsburgh - White
Rochester - White
Buffalo - Blue
South:
Charlotte - White
Atlanta - Blue
Tampa - White
Miami - Blue
Orlando - Blue
New Orleans - Blue
Dallas - White
Houston - Blue
San Antonio - Blue
Austin - White
Memphis - Blue
Little Rock - Blue
Raleigh - White
Nashville - White
Midwest:
St. Louis: Blue
Kansas City - Blue
Des Moines - White
Minneapolis - White
Chicago - White
Indianapolis - Blue
Cleveland - Blue
Detroit - Blue
Milwaukee - Blue
Madison - White
Cincinnati - Blue
Columbus - White
West:
Denver- White
Salt Lake City - Blue
Albuquerque - Blue
Phoenix - Blue
LA - White
San Diego - White
Bay Area - White
Portland - White
Seattle - White
Sacramento - Blue
Fresno - Blue
Not necessarily based on fact, but based on perception.
Northeast:
Boston - White
Providence - Blue
Philadelphia - Blue
NYC - White
Washington DC - White
Baltimore - Blue Pittsburgh - White
Rochester - White
Buffalo - Blue
South:
Charlotte - White
Atlanta - Blue
Tampa - White
Miami - Blue
Orlando - Blue
New Orleans - Blue
Dallas - White
Houston - Blue
San Antonio - Blue
Austin - White
Memphis - Blue
Little Rock - Blue
Raleigh - White
Nashville - White
Midwest:
St. Louis: Blue
Kansas City - Blue
Des Moines - White
Minneapolis - White
Chicago - White
Indianapolis - Blue
Cleveland - Blue
Detroit - Blue
Milwaukee - Blue
Madison - White
Cincinnati - Blue
Columbus - White
West:
Denver- White
Salt Lake City - Blue
Albuquerque - Blue
Phoenix - Blue
LA - White
San Diego - White
Bay Area - White
Portland - White
Seattle - White
Sacramento - Blue
Fresno - Blue
Pittsburgh? The Steel City, a white collar city? That's news to me.
Chicago is one that's probably changed the most in the past 50 years. I think it has the view of still being a fairly blue collar area, and for many many people it is blue collar. The 1970's through late 1980's definitely changed things - and obviously that era was REALLY hard on the city and the metro. Hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost, as people tried to adjust to the new jobs the area was trying so hard to bring in.
The number of jobs in manufacturing and heavy industries has been constantly creeping down, as more serivce oriented and white collar jobs have been constantly creeping up. It seems every recession this is just exasperated even more - with the city taking pretty big slams compared to many areas.
It's gotten to the point where by 2009:
White Collar type industries: 3,879,105 jobs (77%)
Blue Collar type industries: 1,152,491 jobs (23%)
White collar was done by adding up things such as healthcare, social services, administrative services, government, retail, professional and tech services, finance, insurance, accomodation, other services, real estate, education, information, arts, management.
Blue collar was done by adding up things such as manutacturing, wholesale trade, transportation, construction, agriculture, utilities, mining.
The most current estimate for 2012 are:
White Collar type industries: 4,164,811 jobs (78%)
Blue Collar type industries: 1,153,686 jobs (22%)
That said though, there are certainly huge areas, especially to the south of the city, in the southern parts of the city itself, and out to the northwest of the city that are heavily blue collar type jobs. That base has just been slowly shrinking, while most of the ever growing suburban areas are extremely white collar based.
I agree being that I'm from Chicago. It is a white collar city with more of a blue collar don't be afraid to get your hands dirty vibe.
Not necessarily based on fact, but based on perception.
Northeast:
Boston - White
Providence - Blue
Philadelphia - Blue
NYC - White
Washington DC - White
Baltimore - Blue
Pittsburgh - White
Rochester - White
Buffalo - Blue
South:
Charlotte - White Atlanta - Blue Tampa - White Miami - Blue Orlando - Blue
New Orleans - Blue
Dallas - White
Houston - Blue
San Antonio - Blue
Austin - White
Memphis - Blue
Little Rock - Blue
Raleigh - White
Nashville - White
Midwest:
St. Louis: Blue
Kansas City - Blue
Des Moines - White
Minneapolis - White
Chicago - White
Indianapolis - Blue
Cleveland - Blue
Detroit - Blue
Milwaukee - Blue
Madison - White
Cincinnati - Blue
Columbus - White
West:
Denver- White
Salt Lake City - Blue
Albuquerque - Blue
Phoenix - Blue
LA - White
San Diego - White
Bay Area - White
Portland - White
Seattle - White
Sacramento - Blue
Fresno - Blue
Location: Cleveland bound with MPLS in the rear-view
5,509 posts, read 11,816,905 times
Reputation: 2501
Still, if Pit is "white" then very few cities are "blue".....although I'm sure the definition of "blue" as I perceive it is different these days. When I think of blue I think of heavy industry and smoke stacks, polluted skies and people with mustaches!
I think education levels is the best way to measure how "white collar" an area is.
I pulled this list off a Brookings report. http://www.brookings.edu/es/urban/gwrp/publinks/2003/education.pdf (broken link)
I'm not sure where to find updated info on this.
looks like they left out SF Bay area. That would certainly be up there.
Table 1: Educational Attainment in the 20 Largest Metropolitan Areas, 2000
City / Percent with Bachelor's / Percent with Grad Degree
Not necessarily based on fact, but based on perception.
Northeast:
Boston - White
Providence - Blue
Philadelphia - Blue
NYC - White
Washington DC - White
Baltimore - Blue Pittsburgh - White
Rochester - White
Buffalo - Blue
South:
Charlotte - White
Atlanta - Blue
Tampa - White
Miami - Blue
Orlando - Blue
New Orleans - Blue
Dallas - White
Houston - Blue
San Antonio - Blue
Austin - White
Memphis - Blue
Little Rock - Blue
Raleigh - White
Nashville - White
Midwest:
St. Louis: Blue
Kansas City - Blue
Des Moines - White
Minneapolis - White
Chicago - White
Indianapolis - Blue
Cleveland - Blue
Detroit - Blue
Milwaukee - Blue
Madison - White
Cincinnati - Blue
Columbus - White
West:
Denver- White
Salt Lake City - Blue
Albuquerque - Blue
Phoenix - Blue
LA - White
San Diego - White Bay Area - White
Portland - White
Seattle - White Sacramento - Blue
Fresno - Blue
Oh man - i really love this sometimes. It just gets better on here everyday!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.