‘Normal America’ Is Not A Small Town Of White People

[M II A II R II K]

‘Normal America’ Is Not A Small Town Of White People


By Jed Kolko

Read More: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/...-white-people/

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I calculated how demographically similar each U.S. metropolitan area is to the U.S. overall, based on age, educational attainment, and race and ethnicity. The index equals 100 if a metro’s demographic mix were identical to that of the U.S. overall.

- By this measure, the metropolitan area that looks most like the U.S. is New Haven, Connecticut, followed by Tampa, Florida, and Hartford, Connecticut. All of the 10 large metros that are demographically most similar to the U.S. overall are in the Northeast, Midwest or center of the country. Two of them — New Haven and Philadelphia — are even on Amtrak’s Acela line. None is in the West, though Sacramento, California, comes close at No. 12.

- The large metros least demographically similar to the U.S. include McAllen-Edinburg-Mission and El Paso, both in Texas, both of which are younger, less educated and more Latino than the U.S. overall, and Honolulu, where Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders together are the majority. --- Oshkosh, by the way, clocks in with a score of 71, and Maine’s Penobscot County, where Lincoln is, has a score of 67: both places deserve less of a claim to “normal America” than the majority of large metros do.

- If your image of the real America is a small town, you might be thinking of an America that no longer exists. I used the same method to measure which places in America today are most similar demographically to America in 1950, when the country was much whiter, younger and less-educated than today. --- Of course, nearly every place in the U.S. today looks more like 2014 America than 1950 America. But the large metros that today come closest to looking like 1950 America are Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Ogden and Provo, in Utah; and several in the Midwest and South.

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[Xing]

"Experience what life in America use to be like in 1950! Come visit Ogden Utah, and take a time machine to the past!"

Nobody wants to be on the list that says, "cities with demographics similar to the US in 1950."

[Zapatan]

Originally Posted by Xing

"Experience what life in America use to be like in 1950! Come visit Ogden Utah, and take a time machine to the past!"

Nobody wants to be on the list that says, "cities with demographics similar to the US in 1950."

I know, white majority areas are some of the crappiest in the US.

Also, question for United Statians, why are Latin Americans never "white"? Not that it matters but since the US is so obsessed with ethnic background I'm just curious.

[Buckeye Native 001]

I have no idea why this is, but for what its worth, the FBI criminal history search database/NCIC categorizes Latinos and Hispanics as white.

[ColDayMan]

^Well I guess that explains this...


http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/

[James Bond Agent 007]

Originally Posted by Xing

Nobody wants to be on the list that says, "cities with demographics similar to the US in 1950."

Given the large numbers of people who eagerly and willingly move to areas with demographics similar to 1950's America, I'd say that's not exactly true.

[dc_denizen]

Nobody wants to be on the list that says, "cities with demographics similar to the US in 1950."

articles like this are just fucking terrible. What makes a person interesting isn't the color of their skin, it's the content of their character, their life experiences, their achievements. that goes for places too.

completely pathetic.

[Zapatan]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

articles like this are just fucking terrible. What makes a person interesting isn't the color of their skin, it's the content of their character, their life experiences, their achievements. that goes for places too.

completely pathetic.

Plus a million, why can't more people think like this? The US. is one of the most disgustingly racist places I've ever been, not saying other places can't be but still...

[Steve de Ohio]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

Plus a million, why can't more people think like this? The US. is one of the most disgustingly racist places I've ever been, not saying other places can't be but still...

Originally Posted by Zapatan

I know, white majority areas are some of the crappiest in the US.

Hmm.....

[chris08876]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

Plus a million, why can't more people think like this? The US. is one of the most disgustingly racist places I've ever been, not saying other places can't be but still...

I agree. If anybody thinks race relations have gotten better, they haven't. And that does factor into purchasing a home for a lot of people. They just won't admit it... but it happens. Most people are racists by heart, they just won't admit it. But this is really not even a U.S. issue but one that spans globally. I really think its just human nature, and its not going away any time soon. We can put a band aid on it, and give the illusion that we have changed, but we haven't.

Some people might not like this viewpoint of the world, but all you have to do is look at history and society itself in the U.S. and in other countries to realize that discrimination, prejudiced, oppression and so on are rampant.

[Zapatan]

Originally Posted by Steve de Ohio

Hmm.....

It was a joke, and merely a rebuttal to Xing's ignorant comment. I get pretty sick of how taboo it is to negatively stereotype a dark skinned ethnicity but totally fine to do so to a light skinned one. Like if you said all arabs are terrorists you're racist but if you say all Europeans are racist supremacists no one cares.

I suppose if you're on top of the economic/social ladder it's more socially acceptable to make fun of you which is understandable I guess.

[Zapatan]

Originally Posted by chris08876

I agree. If anybody thinks race relations have gotten better, they haven't. And that does factor into purchasing a home for a lot of people. They just won't admit it... but it happens. Most people are racists by heart, they just won't admit it. But this is really not even a U.S. issue but one that spans globally. I really think its just human nature, and its not going away any time soon. We can put a band aid on it, and give the illusion that we have changed, but we haven't.

Some people might not like this viewpoint of the world, but all you have to do is look at history and society itself in the U.S. and in other countries to realize that discrimination, prejudiced, oppression and so on are rampant.

This is so true... sadly, I think having at least a little aversion to people different from you is in a way, human nature, and pretending that doesn't exist and trying to force people to like each other (vie political correctness or something) represses those natural feelings and makes things worse.

Of course the more educated people are the more willing they are to accept others but even then the majority of people have prejudices down deep.

[Steve de Ohio]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

It was a joke, and merely a rebuttal to Xing's ignorant comment. I get pretty sick of how taboo it is to negatively stereotype a dark skinned ethnicity but totally fine to do so to a light skinned one. Like if you said all arabs are terrorists you're racist but if you say all Europeans are racist supremacists no one cares.

I suppose if you're on top of the economic/social ladder it's more socially acceptable to make fun of you which is understandable I guess.

Got it. I totally agree with you and now it all makes sense! Why replace one racist system with another?

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by Xing

"Experience what life in America use to be like in 1950! Come visit Ogden Utah, and take a time machine to the past!"

Nobody wants to be on the list that says, "cities with demographics similar to the US in 1950."

Ogden is anything but 1950 demographics.

It's 24% Hispanic.

But like most Utah metros, the main city is diverse but the surrounding areas are white as rice.

[goat314]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

This is so true... sadly, I think having at least a little aversion to people different from you is in a way, human nature, and pretending that doesn't exist and trying to force people to like each other (vie political correctness or something) represses those natural feelings and makes things worse.

Of course the more educated people are the more willing they are to accept others but even then the majority of people have prejudices down deep.

The problem with this logic is that historically, at least in the European colonial period, the darker skinned people were brutalized, subjugated, and exploited by the lighter skinned people. I don't think its about trying to force people to "like" each other because of some sort of "political correctness". I think people just want to have a conversation about the social implications of our racist legacy and how it still influences our cultural perceptions today. The fact we cant talk about what ACTUALLY happened under European colonialism, Native American genocide, chattel slavery, Jim Crow etc. and its lasting legacy on our cultural consciousness without some of our "whiter" brethren getting upset, shows we have a long way to go.

[berger4]

Ogden as of the 2010 Census data is 30.1% Hispanic and only 63% white. That doesn't sound to 1950's to me.

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by Zapatan

Plus a million, why can't more people think like this? The US. is one of the most disgustingly racist places I've ever been, not saying other places can't be but still...

Tell me about it, try growing up white in a predominately black area.

[jpdivola]

Oh yeah, this is gonna produce a productive discussion.

Can we all just agree everyone has some natural inclination to favor their own group and to think in stereotypes? But, we also have a capacity/responsibility to check our natural tenancies. We have gotten better across time, but we still have more work to do.

At a societal level, given that whites are the majority and generally of higher social status, nonwhites bear the burden of racism and whites are largely immune outside of relatively isolated cases. White racism is a much bigger issue than the other way around (Sort of the way we talk about radical Islamic terrorism more than other radical religious terrorism). But at an individual level, racist actions are equally despicable regardless of the color of the perpetrator/victim.

[Owlhorn]

can someone please boast about their super diverse, non-racist country?

[Zapatan]

Originally Posted by TexasPlaya

Tell me about it, try growing up white in a predominately black area.

I can imagine, most of what I see here in California though is a lot of prejudice between minority groups/immigrants, I suppose that's what happens with "multiculturalism".