The Middle Class Is Shrinking Everywhere — In Chicago It’s Almost Gone (Elk Grove Village: crime, neighborhood)

[lepoisson]

Pretty disturbing considering Chicago was a city founded for working class folks.

There are still some working class neighborhoods in the city, but they are slowly turning into "the hood" or taken over by lower income groups.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by lepoisson

Pretty disturbing considering Chicago was a city founded for working class folks.

There are still some working class neighborhoods in the city, but they are slowly turning into "the hood" or taken over by lower income groups.

What do you mean, "Founded for working class folks"? A "working class" was barely even a concept in 1835, and towns certainly were not founded for them. Towns were for merchants and traders.

[DavePa]

The Middle-class concept basically began the early 20th century. Chicago's Bungalow-Belt a huge result of it. Still vibrant today whether you call it hood, Latino in ethnicity now and declined..... or whatever. I'm reading between the lines in comments. The reference to hoods especially if Latino alone too?

They look great yet. Even the Workers-Cottage home belt .... its predecessor. Yet labeled Working-Class till Middle-Class took over in increases and usages ..... and the term stuck.

[ipkl07]

Originally Posted by Manterro

Chicago’s middle class, once the backbone of the city, is declining so swiftly that it’s almost gone, and a set of maps from a local university lays that reality bare.

https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news...4-a717d4fb1b0b

Yep, I see that. Completely 100% sad.

[OyCrumbler]

It’s undeniable that the middle class in the US has shrunk, but there are definitely a few crinkles in looking at census tracts.

There are some other things to consider which is that the high income tracts are some of the densest tracts in the city while the low income tracts are generally those who have had a precipitous decrease in population since the 70s. Without presenting the actual composition and aggregate population numbers of that tract, a high density plurality high-income tract looks equal to a low density plurality low-income tract but the former could be host to a far larger number of middle income people than a low density middle or low income tract.

The 1970 start timeframe compared to today is a long time for a city that’s seen a lot of changes. There was certainly a downward trajectory for major urban cities for a while in the latter half of the 20th century, but there has been a turnaround in some ways, but it can’t be expected to make up for the decades of urban disinvestment and policies that were generally bad for urban cities.

As noted in a previous thread on this, the middle income band the study uses is also quite narrow.

[TheTimidBlueBars]

Weird thinking about how if the trends shown in those maps continue, by 2040 areas like Elk Grove Village/Itasca and eastern DuPage County will be impoverished, while gentrification could spread as far west as Austin.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by TheTimidBlueBars

Weird thinking about how if the trends shown in those maps continue, by 2040 areas like Elk Grove Village/Itasca and eastern DuPage County will be impoverished, while gentrification could spread as far west as Austin.

Ed Zotti makes very similar projections.

[chitowngal95]

Originally Posted by BRU67

Yup, replaced by the blue Emerald City, which has grown dramatically since 1970, and a whole bunch of lower middle class and poor neighborhoods.

A progressive's paradise. They have nice places to live and a lot of people to help, LOL!

If by help you mean politically pander to continually and get votes from, than yes.

The other day a friend mentioned how the city is starting to remind them more of some Central American countries where the very rich and the very poor live in close proximity to each other. When all else fails, local politicians seem to just blame the rich and tell the poor that they should continue to rely on the government alone to support and have their best interests at heart.

[RationalExpectations]

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

It’s undeniable that the middle class in the US has shrunk...

[RationalExpectations]

Originally Posted by chitowngal95

If by help you mean politically pander to continually and get votes from, than yes.

The other day a friend mentioned how the city is starting to remind them more of some Central American countries where the very rich and the very poor live in close proximity to each other. When all else fails, local politicians seem to just blame the rich and tell the poor that they should continue to rely on the government alone to support and have their best interests at heart.

Politics has sometimes been defined as the art of garnering votes from the poor and campaign contributions from the rich, promising to protect each from the other.