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The suburban countys (4 in Pennsylvania, 3 in New jersey (including Camden County) and 1 in Delaware are broken up into hundreds of little townships that are independent of the city and each other.
Delaware county is a small county land wise, but the population is very high, and overall there are more people living in the older sections of the county have more people. But as i said before you are very misinformed to say that anything south of media is dumpy. The dumby sections of delaware county are the extreme southeastern edges. Again, Most of the county is very wealthy, and it is a great place for a family to move.
I'd say Delaware County is beginning to change. 30 years ago there was very little poverty and the demographics were 90-95% white.
Today I believe the white population is down to 70% and poverty has increased. Id say economically speaking its fairly evenly split. 30% affluent,45% middle/upper middle class, 25% poor.The poor probably only constitute 5-10% of the land area of Delaware County.
I'd say Delaware County is beginning to change. 30 years ago there was very little poverty and the demographics were 90-95% white.
Today I believe the white population is down to 70% and poverty has increased. Id say economically speaking its fairly evenly split. 30% affluent,45% middle/upper middle class, 25% poor.The poor probably only constitute 5-10% of the land area of Delaware County.
They are changining, but i dont think that is because the ghetto is spreading. The asian and Indian population is towns such as Media, and radnor have grown, though they are still around the 5% area, that is an increase from the 2000, where the asian pop was around 1%. How i see, and my view is pretty accurate since ive lived in the county my whole life, is that the wealthy areas: Garnet Valley, Chadds Ford, Radnor, etc keep getting wealthier. And Chester etc. keeps getting not poorer, but worse off IMO, and many of the other towns like aston brookhaven, broomall, ridley, they are stable townships that if anything have improved over the past 10 years. If you compare the county every 10 years, the median household income has steadily increased. So yes delaware county is changing and i think it is 85% for the better.
I'd say Delaware County is beginning to change. 30 years ago there was very little poverty and the demographics were 90-95% white.
Today I believe the white population is down to 70% and poverty has increased. Id say economically speaking its fairly evenly split. 30% affluent,45% middle/upper middle class, 25% poor.The poor probably only constitute 5-10% of the land area of Delaware County.
you know you don't have to guestimate. 8% of the people in delaware county are living below the poverty line according to 2009 statistics. pretty far beneath your 25% guess.
although i will agree that delaware county is getting dumpier in some areas than it was 25 years ago... it's still overall a very affluent suburb.
the trend is def downward especially the closer you move to philadelphia itself... with the suburbs along the mainline being the exception.
How i see, and my view is pretty accurate since ive lived in the county my whole life, is that the wealthy areas: Garnet Valley, Chadds Ford, Radnor, etc keep getting wealthier. And Chester etc. keeps getting not poorer, but worse off IMO, and many of the other towns like aston brookhaven, broomall, ridley, they are stable townships that if anything have improved over the past 10 years. If you compare the county every 10 years, the median household income has steadily increased. So yes delaware county is changing and i think it is 85% for the better.
Towns like Ridley,Brookhaven havent improved in the past 10 years. They are working class towns whose housing stock continues to age. There are exceptions but there isnt a lot of reinvestment going on. The best and brightest of Brookhaven/Ridley move onto newer towns like Garnet Valley,Chester Springs,North Coventry etc..
Slowly but surely the school districts of Ridley and Brookhaven have and will continue to regress.
30 years ago the poverty rate of Delaware County was Chester/Bucks Countyish 2-3%. Today the poverty rate is 9 %. Thats not bad(national avg 12% but it is slipping and will continue to do so imo.
Most of the housing stock in the eastern half of Delaware County is pre 1960 and modest working class at that. Thats going to be a problem.
They are changining, but i dont think that is because the ghetto is spreading. The asian and Indian population is towns such as Media, and radnor have grown, though they are still around the 5% area, that is an increase from the 2000, where the asian pop was around 1%. How i see, and my view is pretty accurate since ive lived in the county my whole life, is that the wealthy areas: Garnet Valley, Chadds Ford, Radnor, etc keep getting wealthier. And Chester etc. keeps getting not poorer, but worse off IMO, and many of the other towns like aston brookhaven, broomall, ridley, they are stable townships that if anything have improved over the past 10 years. If you compare the county every 10 years, the median household income has steadily increased. So yes delaware county is changing and i think it is 85% for the better.
keep in mind though, so has the cost of living.
i'd say overall delaware county is trending downward, but overall it is still very strong.
you can't deny though that there are towns like folcroft, colwyn, sharon hill, that were pretty nice 25 years ago and are now pretty dumpy. it's easy to see that dumpyness spreading to glenolden, parts of springfield etc in the next 25 years.
it seems like dumpyness is spreading through philadelphia and it's suburbs like a wave.
50 years ago the inner city was a warzone while the outer parts of the city and the suburbs were all nice.
25 years ago the central part of philadelphia was recovering as the dumpyness began to spread to the outskirts of philly and the closest suburbs.
today the central part of philadelphia is beautiful and safe, the outer edges that were really nice before are now awful. and most of the suburbs along the border of philadelphia are awful as well.
25 years from now i'd guess that the dumpyness would have traveled further away from the cities core into the suburbs. the outlying parts of the city will have experiences gentrification and will have rebounded and the suburbs closest to the city, upper darby, darby, folcroft, etc, will be just beginning their rebirth.
Towns like Ridley,Brookhaven havent improved in the past 10 years. They are working class towns whose housing stock continues to age. There are exceptions but there isnt a lot of reinvestment going on. The best and brightest of Brookhaven/Ridley move onto newer towns like Garnet Valley,Chester Springs,North Coventry etc..
Slowly but surely the school districts of Ridley and Brookhaven take a hit and regress.
30 years ago the poverty rate of Delaware County was Chester/Bucks Countyish 4-5%. Today the poverty rate is 9 %. Thats not bad(national avg 12% but it is slipping and will continue to do so imo.
Most of the housing stock in the eastern half of Delaware County is pre 1960 and modest working class at that. Thats going to be a problem.
Well brookhaven is a part of penn delco school district. aston township a neighboring town that has a had a lot of development in the past 20 years and is part of the same school district, and i dont see a decline in that school district. it is a solid district, with a mostly middle class population and small upper middle class population that has grown in the past years thanks to the development in aston. And brookhaven has made small improvement here and there. There have been new store built/renovated, there was a new community center built, a new senior citizen community, and soon the upcoming renovation of Cobourn Elementary school. Brookaven isnt a fantastic town, but it keeps up and doesnt let itself become dilapidated like other towns. And i found the poverty rate in delaware county to be at around 8%, and it has remained that throughout the past 3 decades from what i saw, maybe a 1% change. Again though, how could the median income and average sale of a home in the county be rising if the county were improving. I think you need to travel through the county some more.
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