Is Chicago more transient than other big cities? (Lincoln, Brooklyn: condo, neighborhoods)

[karmapolice2k9]

Bringing up the citydata pages for various neighborhoods on the North side (Logan Square, Lincoln Park, Lake View, Wicker Park, etc) all reveal that the peak age of residents is about 27 in all of these neighborhoods. It seems to quickly taper off after this. I don't see this when looking at similar type of neighborhoods in SF, NY, etc. Do less people tend to stick around into their 30's here than these cities? At least in the popular more entertainment focused neighborhoods? Do people move to Chicago for a few years just to "try out the big city lifestyle" in their 20s and jump ship? If so why is this?

Here are some similar neighborhoods and how the demographics compare:

chicago:
//www.city-data.com/neighborhoo...hicago-IL.html


ny:
//www.city-data.com/neighborhoo...ooklyn-NY.html

SF:

//www.city-data.com/neighborhoo...ncisco-CA.html

LA:
//www.city-data.com/neighborhoo...ngeles-CA.html

[Slate Moonstone]

The usual trajectory is this:


Young white people (let's call them Chad and Trixie) grow up in some Midwestern suburb or small town. They go to college at some big Midwest state school. After graduation, they want to live and party it up in a big city, but their own cities (St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit, etc) are post-apocalyptic ****piles and their frat bros/sorority sisters are moving to Chicago, so they come too.


They move to some gentrified North Side neighborhood where they proceed to spend most of their time playing beer pong, watching sports, and partying until they get married. Maybe they buy a condo that Trixie calls "cute." Then, as soon as they pop out their first kid, they either move out to the suburbs because Chicago public schools are a disaster, or they flee back to Ohio because it's cheaper and they can get Mom to babysit.

[Alacran]

And kick minorities out of cheap affordable neighborhoods in thr process.

[xsboost]

Originally Posted by Slate Moonstone

The usual trajectory is this:

*SNIP*

Yeah, I'd say that's pretty accurate.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by xsboost

Yeah, I'd say that's pretty accurate.

While Chad and Trixie are busy high fiving their classmates during March Madness or just "Netflix and chill" the entrenched alderman and state legislators continue their unabated plunder of the coffers of the city and state. Then when normal people who you'd expect to be mad as h377 that their kids schools are crumbling and the staff incompetent the successful Chad & Trixies are too enmeshed in the social climbing at their kid's private school fund raisers to care OR in the burbs where they do become at least mostly concerned that their tax dollars are used legitimately OR they do head back to Ohio where it is easier to take over dad's practice then hold out hope that some baby boomer will retire from a 500 partner Loop practice...

[karmapolice2k9]

Originally Posted by Slate Moonstone

The usual trajectory is this:


Young white people (let's call them Chad and Trixie) grow up in some Midwestern suburb or small town. They go to college at some big Midwest state school. After graduation, they want to live and party it up in a big city, but their own cities (St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit, etc) are post-apocalyptic ****piles and their frat bros/sorority sisters are moving to Chicago, so they come too.


They move to some gentrified North Side neighborhood where they proceed to spend most of their time playing beer pong, watching sports, and partying until they get married. Maybe they buy a condo that Trixie calls "cute." Then, as soon as they pop out their first kid, they either move out to the suburbs because Chicago public schools are a disaster, or they flee back to Ohio because it's cheaper and they can get Mom to babysit.

But why does this happen here in Chicago and not in the cities listed? What sets them apart that makes people want to stay? Better schools? Or something else? All of those cities get plenty of new out of state residents as well.

[PerseusVeil]

Originally Posted by karmapolice2k9

Bringing up the citydata pages for various neighborhoods on the North side (Logan Square, Lincoln Park, Lake View, Wicker Park, etc) all reveal that the peak age of residents is about 27 in all of these neighborhoods. It seems to quickly taper off after this. I don't see this when looking at similar type of neighborhoods in SF, NY, etc. Do less people tend to stick around into their 30's here than these cities? At least in the popular more entertainment focused neighborhoods? Do people move to Chicago for a few years just to "try out the big city lifestyle" in their 20s and jump ship? If so why is this?

Here are some similar neighborhoods and how the demographics compare:

chicago:
//www.city-data.com/neighborhoo...hicago-IL.html


ny:
//www.city-data.com/neighborhoo...ooklyn-NY.html

SF:

//www.city-data.com/neighborhoo...ncisco-CA.html

LA:
//www.city-data.com/neighborhoo...ngeles-CA.html

Two things: 1) I wouldn't necessarily say all of these neighborhoods are comparable. Lakeview wouldn't be Chicago's most similar neighborhood to Williamsburg, IMO, and the Castro would only be comparable to part of Lakeview (Boystown). 2) Are these stats even correct? When I've seen Lakeview's population in the past, it was above 90,000, not sitting just below 70,000.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by karmapolice2k9

But why does this happen here in Chicago and not in the cities listed? What sets them apart that makes people want to stay? Better schools? Or something else? All of those cities get plenty of new out of state residents as well.

The bigger Big10 schools have classes of over 7500 students. That is basically triple the size of the of more prestigious private schools and the folks successful in such settings are extremely good at what biologists call "swarm survival". The way ants or bees or starlings thrive is by not deviating from the track that others have followed. This is not to say that nobody from UIUC or OSU will do something singularly remarkably, just that taken as a likelihood of any one undergrad at one of those schools having the traits to standout it is much less likely than at a smaller more prestigious school.

The mindset of "rule breakers" is simply different and that is a big part of way so many such folks who go on to be "disrupters" start their college path at places well known for breeding such independent thinking.

There are some exceptions, but for a variety of reasons the path of "urban pioneers" often does start with folks in the most risky type career paths. The artists and other outsiders with literally nothing to lose are well documented in the first wave of those who move into areas too scary for the "swarm". The next group though is also a kind of risk takers too -- folks who distinguish themselves in the "high risk / high reward" type careers. In Chicago that largely means those involved in financial markets, but there are also folks that have "put all on the line" for demanding careers in specialities of law or top ranks of consulting. Again, these are typically folks who've been high performers and/or insiders for so long that "swarm" is not part of their internal setpoint. When they make it big they drive the prices of nicer areas like Lincoln Park sky high and the excitement and cost of those areas rapidly increase. Chicago is probably fortunate to have so many families that have been in one way or another "different enough" to distinguish themselves with high incomes that they are multiple options for such wealthy folks that can choose private schools. It is also interesting to see how diversity has been a positive factor for these groups in Chicago. The fact that there are minorities and LGBTQIA kids pouring out of the elite schools and rapidly welcomed into the "insider's network" where scions of the wealthy like Penny Pritzker serve as Commerce Secretary in the Obama administration, who send their kids to Lab, goes a long to way toward understanding how these network sustain themselves, sidestep the "normal" political concerns that one sees in suburban school board races, and also how the "swarm" is kind of repelled by such things...

There are of course some dreamers who are mere functionaries from their Big10 schools who try to live in Chicago with their kids despite their lack of connections and so long as they do enough to encourage their kids they probably can avoid the worst outcomes but as a percentage of the total population of families with school aged children it is politically insignificant...

[DavePa]

I will never see I go off topic again to make a point.

Can't we all get along?

I mean like those already getting a great city pension from such a bad city and those that will need to make their own.

I know I post some dandy post but I need a translator too -

Originally Posted by chet everett

While Chad and Trixie are busy high fiving their classmates during March Madness or just "Netflix and chill" the entrenched alderman and state legislators continue their unabated plunder of the coffers of the city and state. Then when normal people who you'd expect to be mad as h377 that their kids schools are crumbling and the staff incompetent the successful Chad & Trixies are too enmeshed in the social climbing at their kid's private school fund raisers to care OR in the burbs where they do become at least mostly concerned that their tax dollars are used legitimately OR they do head back to Ohio where it is easier to take over dad's practice then hold out hope that some baby boomer will retire from a 500 partner Loop practice...

I just feel these poor young'uns "Trixie's an Chad's need --->sum luv too. Instead of negative stereotypical putdowns. Just me I guess and I'm kinda gettin' old and a simpleton.

Originally Posted by chet everett

The fact that there are minorities and LGBTQIA kids pouring out of the elite schools and rapidly welcomed into the "insider's network" where scions of the wealthy like Penny Pritzker serve as Commerce Secretary in the Obama administration, who send their kids to Lab, goes a long to way toward understanding how these network sustain themselves, sidestep the "normal" political concerns that one sees in suburban school board races, and also how the "swarm" is kind of repelled by such things...

There are of course some dreamers who are mere functionaries from their Big10 schools who try to live in Chicago with their kids despite their lack of connections and so long as they do enough to encourage their kids they probably can avoid the worst outcomes but as a percentage of the total population of families with school aged children it is politically insignificant...

I need a translator app. Or all them degrees I did not get? All I know it is meant to demean and a putdown? Or am I wrong there?

[FAReastcoast]

Originally Posted by karmapolice2k9

But why does this happen here in Chicago and not in the cities listed? What sets them apart that makes people want to stay? Better schools? Or something else? All of those cities get plenty of new out of state residents as well.

The bigger question why you don't believe this happens in the other cities listed.