Neighborhood Change Since 1970: Suburbanization, Gentrification, and Suburban Redevelopment
SAVI Talks - June 2018While suburbanization and White flight led the White population to drop by 120,000 in Indianapolis’ core and early suburbs, gentrification has recently led to major cultural changes in some of these same neighborhoods.
Across the Indianapolis region, neighborhoods have experienced rapid cultural changes and shifting housing demand. Learn more in the Community Trends Report, Neighborhod Change Since 1970.
In June, we facilitated a community conversation about neighborhood-level demographic changes across the region from 1970 to today, exploring the trends of suburbanization, gentrification, and suburban redevelopment.
See How Your Neighborhood Has Changed
We’ve built an interactive tool to explore all the data we used in our research. Discover how the demographics of your neighborhood has changed over the past five decades.
Community Trends Report
New construction in Highland Park. Income for the average family in Highland Park/Cottage Home has gone up 68 percent from 2010-2016, while falling one percent across the region.
Matt Nowlin / The Polis Center
In the past fifty years, the 1970s and 2010s have been the fastest changing decades in terms of economic and demographic indicators. In the 1970s, suburbanization contributed to population loss and economic decline in urban areas.
Since 2010, many core Indianapolis neighborhoods have reversed these trends, growing wealthier, whiter, and more college-educated. Still, many have not experienced positive economic change. Half of Indianapolis residents live in neighborboohds with significant income declines over the past five decades. Read more…
Articles and Story Maps
Explore interactive content built on our neighborhood change research.
The Growing Divide Between Rich and Poor Neighborhoods
In 1970, there was a $22.6k gap between average family income in high- and low-income (80th and 20th percentile) neighborhoods. By 2016, the gap had doubled to $53.5k. Incomes grew for wealthy and middle-income neighborhoods, but fell for low-income neighborhoods.
After Public Investment, St. Clair Place’s Housing Market Significantly Stronger
Mortgage activity in St. Clair Place shows a dramatic increase in home purchases and home value since 2007. The area is more diverse than ever and poverty is falling for people of color. But home buyers are still 76 percent white.
In Little Flower, More College Graduates, Young Adults, but Incomes are Falling
There's a shrinking share of people in their 20s in this German/Irish neighborhood, but a growing of share in their 30s and 40s, as well as a growing population of children. These residents are less likely to live in poverty than other age groups, but they have still seen ...
Income Inequality High Where Golden Hill and Northwest Indianapolis Converge
In the area where wealthy Golden Hills converges with the working-class neighborhoods of Northwest Indianapolis, income inequality is high and increasing. The area is also experiencing a growth of white households above the median income.
Changes in Indy’s Historic Black Neighborhoods
In the 1970s, 4,000 residents left this nearly all-black neighborhood. Why? An increasingly desegregated housing market and closure of one of the country’s first public housing projects.
Story Map: Moving Out – Suburbanization Since 1970
Indianapolis and Anderson were the region's urban centers in 1970. Three-quarters of the population lived in those counties. Now, just over half the population live there, and Hamilton County is the second largest urban center.
Story Map: Race and Migration Since 1970
In 1970, half of the region's Black population lived in 12 square miles north of downtown Indianapolis. As Black residents moved into '60s suburban communities, 120,000 White residents left the city's core for newer suburbs.
Authors
Kelly Davila,
Senior Research Analyst,
The Polis Center
Matt Nowlin,
Research Analyst,
The Polis Center
Unai Miquel Andres,
GIS and Data Analyst,
The Polis Center
Panelists
Imhotep Adisa,
Executive Director, Kephrw Institute
Jeff Bennett,
Deputy Mayor for Community Development, Office of Mayor Joe Hogsett – City of Indianapolis
Meredith Brickell,
Associate Professor of Art at DePauw University and Project Leader for the House of Life Project
Chris Pryor,
Vice President of Government & Community Relations, Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors
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