Which Northeast city would be best for a black middle class family? (living, cost)
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As I reflect NYC drops further down my options due to increasing crime AND increasing home prices. Not to mention NYC has higher cost of goods and services than Boston and a much higher track burden.
Overall I’d pick somewhere in North Jersey, SWCT or eastern MA before NYC for any family. Maybe even Albany.
This likely plays a part in the very favorable metrics of the Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown area. Many from NYC just move to that area and get in where they can fit in. Hence, being one of the most integrated top 100 metros in the country and for the relatively high black median household income. I believe the only other Northeastern areas with similarly small income gaps between black/white area residents are small areas like East Stroudsburg PA and Watertown NY(pretty big military presence though, but not completely so).
To be fair to NYC, I believe it’s black poverty rate is still below the national black poverty rate and still offers neighborhoods that are relatively family friendly.
Another thing I was thinking of was in regards to companies/employment. For instance, I know that a company based in the region in Corning Incorporated for years has been trying to attract black STEM talent to its facilities in the Corning area and elsewhere. Xerox and Kodak in Rochester were like this(not just STEM talent) back in the day and they likely still try to attract such talent. Right now in Syracuse, I know employers on University Hill like Syracuse University and SUNY Upstate Medical Center are making pushes to increase cultural diversity in its workforce. Bankers Healthcare Group, which also has a facility in Syracuse, has been recognized nationally for its workplace diversity as well. I'm sure there are others, but this may be another angle to consider in terms of places of employment/industries/companies said families are looking for as well.
A couple of other companies that come to mind are, Bank of New York Mellon, which has locations not only in the major Northeastern areas, including the Pittsburgh area, but also in Harrisburg and Utica-Rome NY.
IBM, which has facilities in Poughkeepsie, Armonk(and NYC, in terms of HQ's), Yorktown, among others in NY; Southbury CT, the Boston area and Parsippany, Piscataway and Iselin in NJ, is another company to look into.
None. They're all too expensive for middle class families, and most are too crowded. For example, I'd rather have a YARD for my kids to play in and not have to have 2 or 3 of them share a bedroom, just to be able to say we live in New York City (or where ever). That's why you see so many black middle class families leaving the Northeast in a reverse migration (and no, I'm not going to get into any stat-pissing back and forths about that. It's been happening for a minute now, and we all know it).
Just to give examples in NYC where you might/could do this...
Another thing I was thinking of was in regards to companies/employment. For instance, I know that a company based in the region in Corning Incorporated for years has been trying to attract black STEM talent to its facilities in the Corning area and elsewhere. Xerox and Kodak in Rochester were like this(not just STEM talent) back in the day and they likely still try to attract such talent. Right now in Syracuse, I know employers on University Hill like Syracuse University and SUNY Upstate Medical Center are making pushes to increase cultural diversity in its workforce. Bankers Healthcare Group, which also has a facility in Syracuse, has been recognized nationally for its workplace diversity as well. I'm sure there are others, but this may be another angle to consider in terms of places of employment/industries/companies said families are looking for as well.
Since I did it in another thread, here are the Regional Price Parities for Northeastern metro areas with at least 500,000 people(and likely in or very close to being in the top 100 metros in population).
Albany: 100.297
Allentown: 99.124
Boston: 110.218
Bridgeport: 105.586
Buffalo: 95.697
Harrisburg: 96.481
Hartford: 102.882
Lancaster: 98.475
New Haven: 102.462
NYC: 115.475
Philadelphia: 102.254
Pittsburgh: 95.685
Portland ME: 100.291
Poughkeepsie-Newburgh: 111.875 (Does have highest black MHHI in the region and 2nd or 3rd, I believe nationally for top 100 metros)
Providence: 101.236
Reading: 98.025
Rochester: 98.287
Scranton: 93.018
Springfield: 97.943
Syracuse: 96.594
Worcester: 100.613
This is based off of 2020 Bureau of Economic Analysis statistics measuring, All items (RPPs)- The term "all items" refers to all the detailed consumption goods and services used in the estimation of the RPPs.
Based off of...
Goods (RPPs)- Goods refer to durable and nondurable consumption goods used in the estimation of the RPPs. Goods categories include apparel, education, food, housing, medical, recreation, transportation, and other goods.
Housing (RPPs)- Housing expenditures consist of the monetary rents paid by tenants for tenant-occupied housing, an imputed rental value for owner-occupied dwellings (measured as the income the homeowner could have received if the house had been rented to a tenant), the rental value of farm dwellings, and spending on group housing. Housing price levels are only estimated for tenant-occupied housing.
Utilities (RPPs)- Household utilities consist of water supply and sanitation and electricity and gas.
Other (RPPs)- Other services refer to services consumption products, except rents, that are used in the estimation of the RPPs. Other services categories include education, food, housing, medical, recreation, transportation, and other services.
So, from just looking at metros with at least 1 million people Pittsburgh and Buffalo are essentially neck and neck in terms of the lowest cost of living, with Rochester coming in 3rd.
For areas in between 500k-1 million the 3 lowest are Scranton, with Harrisburg and Syracuse coming in really tight for 2nd and 3rd.
I dare say that Buffalo could be a sleeper due to also having access to an area that would essentially be a rough equivalent to the Chicago metro area/CSA across an International border from it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Horseshoe
Meaning, it gives families(or professionals) more options to consider at least on the weekends. For families, I'm thinking of places like these here: https://www.marineland.ca/
DC and its not close, don't know why its excluded here.
explained several times in the thread.
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