Demographers: Suburbs home to more poor, minorities

Ozzie and Harriet, R.I.P.

The idealized vision of suburbia as a homogeneous landscape of prosperity built around the nuclear family took another hit over the past decade, as suburbs became home to more poor people, immigrants, minorities, senior citizens and households with no children, according to a Brookings Institution report released yesterday.

Although the suburbs remain a destination of choice for families with children, nuclear families are outnumbered. Nationwide, 21 percent of American families are composed of married couples with children. Their ranks declined in more than half of the suburbs.

Demographers at Brookings say suburbs are developing many of the same problems and attractions that are more typically associated with cities. And cities, in turn, have been drawing more residents who are young and affluent, so the traditional income gap between wealthier suburbs and more diverse cities narrowed slightly.

"The decade brought many cities and suburbs still closer together along a series of social, demographic and economic dimensions," said the report, titled "State of Metropolitan America."

The report offers a preview of the 2010 Census. In fact, much of the report's analysis is based on data collected in the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, a detailed questionnaire sent monthly to about 250,000 households that since 2000 has replaced the long census form. With only 10 questions, one of the shortest forms ever, the 2010 Census will provide a broad overview on the size of the nation, its racial and ethnic makeup, and family composition.

The report outlines a decade in which several demographic milestones were passed as the nation's population topped 300 million midway through. About two-thirds of Americans live in the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas, virtually all regions with populations of 500,000 or more.

The decade saw increasing diversity in the suburbs, even though they remain two-thirds white overall. For the first time, more African-Americans live in suburbs than in core cities, a benchmark that Hispanics and Asians had passed by 2000. New York, Washington, Atlanta, San Francisco and Boston are among the few cities where the percentage of white residents increased. Also for the first time, more than half of all immigrants live in the suburbs.

William Frey, a co-author of the report, said the decline in nuclear families in part reflects the aging of the baby-boom generation. Seven of 10 boomers and seniors now live in the suburbs.

Frey said suburbs increasingly will have to start providing services for residents who are aging and living alone.

"The suburbs weren't built for people who are over 65," said Audrey Singer, another co-author. "It's where the beginning of the aging wave will hit."