Boston's children, fewer and fewer of them

[stellarfun]

{quote]....that highlights the dwindling number of children — particularly middle class children — in an otherwise-growing and thriving city. Since 2000, according to the report, the population of school-age children in Boston has fallen by nearly 10,000 — down about one-tenth — even as the city as a whole has added 10 times that many people.

“The demographics highlight what has almost become two separate cities within our city,” said Paul Grogan, CEO of the nonprofit Boston Foundation. “One of higher-income, less diverse, childless households, and the other of lower-income, largely black and Latino families in which the vast majority of the city’s children live.”[/quote]

Where have all the children gone? - The Boston Globe

Boston has barely half as many children as it did in 1950, a new report says. In the last 20 years, the population of school-age children in the city has fallen by nearly 10,000 — down about one-tenth — even as Boston as a whole has added 10 times that many people.

www.bostonglobe.com

 

[TallIsGood]

We lived in Boston until our kids were school age. No schools in Seaport, West End, Beacon Hill etc. what do you expect?

 

[HenryAlan]

We liven in Boston until our kids were school age. No schools in Seaport, West End, Beacon Hill etc. what do you expect?

I'm not sure the people in those neighborhoods are sending their kids to public schools anyway. Interestingly, despite the lack of schools, downtown is one of the few areas with an increasing youth population.

 

[fattony]

I'm not sure the people in those neighborhoods are sending their kids to public schools anyway. Interestingly, despite the lack of schools, downtown is one of the few areas with an increasing youth population.


View attachment 2928

Here is a theory: I think I see a reflection of reurbanization and gentrification in this map. The places with the most money are the places seeing increases in families (blue) - very wealthy families that wouldn't have picked downtown living 20 years ago, but it has become fashionable now. The (orange) places that have/had significant working-class and middle class populations are the areas being gentrified by the yuppies, DINKs, and folks who would have lived downtown, but are now priced out by the exceptionally wealthy (I'm all three of those things, so I don't mean that pejoratively). East Boston is perhaps balanced between DINK-ification and growth of immigrant families.